Cold Winds, Hot Water
by sonicking2004
Summary: After the tragic events of Cold Spell, Elsa is more determined than ever to help others. However, after a mission of mercy goes awry, Elsa finds herself once more far from home and in the company of some unusual individuals. Can Elsa overcome her mistrust of these strangers to work together to find her way home again?
1. Chapter 1: Regret

**Regret**

"Batten down the main sail!" the captain bellowed over the sound of the howling wind, "We've got to ride out this storm!"

"Look out! The main mast is breaking!" one of the crew called out in warning.

"No, it's not!" Elsa replied defiantly as she fired an ice blast at it, causing a brace to form over the splintering wood, righting the upper portion and securely holding the two halves together again.

"Thanks, Your Highness, but I fear that will not be enough," the captain told her, "This ship is in rough shape, and this storm is showing no signs of letting up. I regret to say that this may be my last voyage. It would probably be best if you let us behind and saved yourself, Your Majesty. I'm sorry."

"No, there will be none of that talk here, captain. No one here is dying today!" Elsa shouted back at him, "You just focus on find a way out of this storm, I _will_ hold this ship together until then!"

The Captain's eyes looked doubtful, but he simply bowed his head and said, "As you command, my Queen."

As Elsa looked around, trying to spot any other potential trouble areas, she could not fault the captain for doubting their ability to make it out of here alive. With the numerous ice patches in the hull and deck, the braces holding together the mizzenmasts and now the main mast, this ship already looked like a shipwreck which was one step away from being as bad as the one Julian had sailed into Arendelle what now seems like a lifetime ago. She had considered wrapping the whole ship in an ice armor, but with as bad as these waves were the extra weight would likely cause the ship to capsize and sink right to the bottom. The smart thing now _would_ probably be to seek safety on her own, but she would not leave these men to their deaths. She couldn't!

As she frantically thought of a way out of this impossible situation, Elsa found herself reflecting on how she came to be here in the first place….

* * *

 _Earlier that day, in Arendelle…_

As Elsa entered the throne room, she saw her father looking with concern at a scroll that was just handed to him by a messenger who was now passing by her on his way out. "What is it, father?" Elsa asked him.

"It would seem that our allies in the Southern Isles are in a bit of a bind," her father replied, "Their community has just been devastated by a series of typhoons. Their crops are gone, their buildings are a shambles…"

"Are they needing us to send them aid?" Elsa asked in concern, remembering how they had aided her kingdom when the now former Duke of Weselton invaded.

"Not of that sort," her father explained, "This wasn't the first storm they've ever endured, so they had food stored away in the event this ever occurred, and they've already started the rebuilding. However, that rebuilding is proving to be rather costly, and as a result they're not able to afford the shipping levy charged by our sailors."

"But our sailors have to charge the levy," Elsa said, realizing the issue that was troubling her father, "They don't buy or sell the goods they transport, they merely transport the goods from the ones who harvest or manufacture them who the merchants who sell them, then they transport the funds back, and they risk the dangerous seas and dangerous pirates to do so. That levy is how they pay their crews and maintain their ships, so they can't simply _not_ charge it."

"Yes, and our friends are quite aware of this and have accepted it for the longest while," Elsa's father acknowledged, "However, this disaster has created a situation in which they need to seek a compromise. Therefore, they're wishing to meet in order to discuss possible alternate means of compensation that could be employed temporarily, at least until their recovery is over."

"I see," Elsa responded, "When will they be coming?"

"Unfortunately, their entire fleet was lost during the first of the typhoons that struck. This message was delivered by one of ours that managed to land there once the storms abated," Elsa's father told her, "They're working on getting their ships replaced, but that'll take time they may not have to wait. If this situation is to be resolved in time for it to be of help, then we'll need to go there."

"I understand, father," Elsa said decisively, "I'll get ready to depart right away."

Elsa's father and mother looked at one another before her father asked, "You, Elsa?"

"Of course," Elsa replied, wondering why they would be questioning her like this, especially since he was the one who brought this matter to her attention, "I'm the queen here, and the people of the Southern Isles have proven themselves to be loyal allies many times, especially most recently following your return. This is far too important a matter to leave in the hands of some treasurer that sees numbers rather than people, and should none of their proposed ideas be sufficiently adequate, as queen I can make decisions on my end that would make one of them work."

"I understand where you're coming from, but you need not have to go yourself," Elsa's father reasoned, "As your royal advisor, I could go in your stead. I know just as well as you what options we're able to handle, and I'm already familiar with the people over there, so we should be able to reach an agreement that'll work out for both parties quickly."

"I appreciate that, Dad. Really," Elsa told him gratefully, "But I need to start doing this stuff sometime. If you were in my position now, would _you_ send an advisor instead of going yourself, even you were as close to them and trusted them as much as I am to you?"

Elsa's mother and father looked at each other for confirmation, but Elsa could already see the answer in their eyes. "Exactly," Elsa answered for them, "So I need to do this myself."

Elsa's father cleared his throat uncertainly as he said, "It's just…"

"Just _what,_ Dad!?" Elsa exclaimed, her nerves drawn taut from her parents' insistence on this matter.

When it looked as though her father wasn't going to be able to answer, her mom responded in a concerned tone, "It's just that the last time we went on a diplomatic mission ourselves….well, you remember."

 _So that's what they're worried about,_ Elsa thought to herself. "You're afraid that what happened to you will happen to me," Elsa stated aloud, "You think that if I sail out I won't be able to come back."

"The typhoons are no longer pounding the Isles, but they may be still stirring things up in the seas between here and there," Elsa's father reasoned, "It wasn't all that long ago when we ourselves were lost in conditions like those, and when those pirates grabbed you we were afraid that we may have lost you forever. If we….if our people had lost you to the sea the way they had lost us, I don't think that any of us will be able to recover from that."

Elsa gave her parents reassuring hugs as she said, "Don't worry, guys. This isn't like your last mission as King and Queen. After all, let's not forget what I can do. I'd covered all of Arendelle in an early winter: I _make_ storms! There's nothing some typhoon can throw at me that I can't throw right back at it."

"This isn't some joke, Elsa!" Elsa's mom retorted, concern making her tone sharp.

Her mother's worry sobered Elsa up as she said, "I know, Mom. I'm just saying I can take care of myself, and it's not like we're going to go look for trouble. If it looks like we may end up heading into some bad weather, then we'll just plot a course around it, even it that adds some time to the trip. I'll be there and back before you know it."

Elsa's mother looked at her husband, but he kept his gaze fixed on Elsa as he said in a resigned voice, "Your mind is made up on this."

Elsa nodded as she said, "Even if we didn't have a debt to repay, this is still the right thing to do, so I need to do it." Elsa then hugged her parents again as she said, "Don't worry, if worst comes to worst, I'll create myself a boat out of ice to sail back in. Absolutely nothing will keep me from returning home."

* * *

 _Famous last words,_ Elsa thought to herself as the waves battered their vessel back and forth before she shook it off, _I can't let myself think like that. I **will** make it back home!_ Then she caught sight of a wave rising up close to one side of the ship that, if it landed, could cause the ship to capsize. Thinking quickly, she fired an ice blast at it, converting the upper portion into a strangely salty snow. Although the broken wave settled and allowed the ship to right itself again, the snowy portion still hit with enough force to knock her off balance and sweep even some of the secured cargo off the deck.

Fortunately, most of the crew had seen the wave coming and managed to secure themselves before it hit. However, just as she thought that the worst of it was over, she heard someone call out, "Man overboard!" Looking in the direction the speaker was pointing, she saw a deck hand that had been swept off with the cargo struggling to stay afloat. Getting a running start, she thought she heard someone calling out her name, but whoever cried out was too late to stop her from leaping over the railing just as the deck hand went under.

Even though her dive was perfectly executed, the cold water still slapped in the face with the force of a bludgeon, and she inadvertently swallowed some water. Confused and disoriented, Elsa forced her eyes to open and focus as she looked around the darkened water until she located the sinking crewman. Then she fought against the strong tides and her own exhaustion until she caught up to him, wrapping her arms under his armpits as she called upon her power, causing an icicle to form under her feet with such speed and force that it launched her past the water's surface and through the air back towards the ship. The trajectory landed her on the deck perfectly, but the momentum was such that some of the crew had to catch her before she toppled off the other side.

As Elsa retched out the seawater, the captain approached her and said, "Milady, out of all the monarchs that's presided over Arendelle you are, by far, the craziest, most noble one we've ever had!"

Elsa managed to reply with a weak smile, but the peaceful moment was short lived as yet another consequence of the snow wave made itself known. The masts, barely held together by Elsa's ice braces began to creak and break. Before she could gather the strength again to reinforce them, the masts snapped altogether and fell into the water, sinking quickly into the waves.

* * *

As Elsa prepared to board the ship, she heard the sounds of someone quickly running on the pier behind her and she turned around to see Anna stumbling to a stop, out of breath and carrying a number of bags.

"Anna? What are you doing?" Elsa asked her, though from the state of her it was pretty obvious what she thought she was doing.

"I'm coming with you, of course!" Anna said with a smile.

"No, Anna, you're not," Elsa told her firmly. As Anna's face fell, it looked like she was going to get into some argument she'd prepared for this event. However, before Anna could say anything, Elsa heard a whoosh and a thump, followed by a commotion from the ship behind her, prompting her to turn to see Aurora perched on the bow of the rocking vessel. Ignoring Anna's snickers behind her, Elsa told Aurora just as firmly, "And you, girl, are most _definitely_ not coming."

When Aurora let out a soft whimper, Elsa added in a softer tone, "Look, I'm sorry, but there's just not enough room on this ship for a dragon, and I can't have you flying alongside us the whole way." When Aurora whimpered again, Elsa sighed and said, "Yes, I know it would probably be faster if I rode you instead, but considering that our Southern Isles friends have probably never seen anything like you before it'll probably be best if I take the ship for this mission." As Aurora leaned her head over the side, Elsa patted it as she said, "I know. I'll miss you too, but I'll be back before you know it. So behave, okay?"

Aurora gave Elsa a quick lick, then with a powerful flap that had the ship rocking again she took off in the direction of the North Mountain. Releasing a sigh of longing, wishing that she _had_ the luxury of flying to the Southern Isles, Elsa turned around to see Anna, still standing there with a stubborn set to her face as she said, "Well none of that applies to me. There's easily enough room for me here on the ship, and the princes of the Southern Isles have met me before. I can help."

"You'll be helping the most by remaining here," Elsa tried to reason with her.

"You mean in case you don't return?" Anna retorted.

"No!" Elsa exclaimed, shocked she had come to that conclusion, "It's just, you know, after our country being invaded, my pirate abduction, and the attack by that Death Eater, our people need a sense of comforting stability , and you've always been the more social of us, so the people can relate to you."

"Come on, Elsa, you're just not thinking clearly," Anna pleaded with her, "I mean, it's only been, what, a couple weeks since….you know, Michael's funeral?"

"Three," Elsa corrected her, and as she had she felt somewhat introspective. It was true that, for a while after the service was held, she hadn't felt much like remaining in the castle's halls. They just seemed too full of the memories of him. Going outside wasn't much better, as the people's efforts to comfort and console her only made her feel worse. Although she never had one before, Elsa wondered if this was what losing a brother felt like.

She hadn't even felt up to visiting Michael's family, as she was afraid to see the accusatory look in their eyes. Not that they blamed her for his death, just the opposite in fact, but Elsa felt that they should and that it was only a matter of time before they realized that too.

However, this last week Elsa started to feel the pain lessen. It was still there, of course, but at least walking the castle's halls didn't bother her as much, nor did her people's words of comfort. Elsa even almost went to visit Michael's family, only chickening out at the last second. When this request for a meeting came in from the Southern Isles came in, Elsa had felt it the perfect opportunity to get her life back to normal, or at least as normal as she'd ever felt. "Look, I'm going on this mission because our friends need a hand and for no other reason, and I'll be back before the snow begins to thaw. Okay?" When Anna started to smile, Elsa drew her into an warm embrace as she said, "Take care, sister. I'll see you in two weeks."

When Elsa felt Anna stiffen in her arms, she pulled back to see Anna's eyes fill with tears as she whispered, "That's just what Mom and Dad said." Then she broke from Elsa's grip and ran the other direction, sobbing openly as she rushed past her parents.

"Anna!" Elsa called out to her, but Anna had turned a corner and disappeared into the gathering crowd.

"We'll talk to her," Elsa's father assured her as he hugged her, and her mother did the same as she asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes. Just one thing, though: can you make sure that nobody bothers Aurora while I'm gone?" Elsa asked them, "I think she's just as upset as Anna about not being allowed to go, and I don't need anyone provoking her."

"Of course," her father assured her, "Just make it back to us, okay?"

"Always," Elsa agreed with one last hug, then she turned and climbed the gangplank as she prepared to get herself settled below decks before launch.

* * *

To his credit, the captain had tried to avoid the storm, making such a huge detour it would have added several days to the trip had they made it far. However, the storm had swept over them too fast, covered them too completely for them to avoid it, and it wasn't long before Elsa had regretted not taking Aurora instead of risking these men's lives. Now they were stuck in the worst possible situation: no mast and sail, on a ship that'll likely fall apart if it receives too much more of a beating, and in the middle of the worst storm she'd seen since she'd frozen Arendelle.

"This ship is lost, your Majesty!" the captain bellowed at her, "You have to go now!"

"Not without you!" Elsa hollered back over the wind.

"You've already done all you can!" the captain countered, "If you stay, then you'll die too!"

"No!" Elsa bellowed, "I already told you I'm not letting anyone…"

Elsa trailed off when she felt the ship begin to list again. Looking in the direction of the upslope she gasped as she saw the largest wave yet beginning to tower over them, and she knew then there was nothing she could do about this wave. Even if she turned it to snow like the last wave, the massive amount of snow would crash down on them like an avalanche, crushing this ship just as easily as it would in its natural form. Turning back towards the crew, all of whom had the same look of hopelessness in their eyes, and she tried to find the words to tell them all just how sorry she was.

As she drew in a breath, however, she saw something in the water behind them. Focusing her gaze, she saw that it was some of the cargo that had washed off earlier, more specifically the ones in the barrels. She wondered for a second why those were still floating when everything else had sank, then it came to her. They're hollow! Elsa thought in realization, That makes them more buoyant than the rest! Acting quickly on her desperate idea, Elsa began firing blasts at each and every crew member on deck, encasing them in a hollow sphere of ice.

"Queen Elsa, what are you doing!?" the captain asked her.

"Saving your lives!" Elsa replied as she encased him in his own ice sphere.

As the ship's list became more severe, the ice spheres rolled off the deck and into the water, bobbing on the waves without sinking, and Elsa found herself hard-pressed to climb over the railing to stand on the ship's side so she wouldn't end up in the water as well. As she looked at the crest of the wave looming over them, the rest of her plan came to her. Replicating the trick she performed while rescuing the crewmember, she would use an ice pillar to launch herself up into the sky, hopefully high enough to get where the winds were a bit more stable. There she would create her ice glider to rise above the storm, where hopefully her powers would be better able to shut the storm down. Finally, she would gather and release the crewmen from their ice spheres, making for them an ice ship they could use to complete their journey.

Before she could act on her plan, however, Elsa heard a high-pitched scream. Looking down at the source, Elsa's heart froze at what she saw: there, hanging from the handle of the door leading to below decks, was Anna! How is this possible!? We'd left her back in Arendelle! Elsa thought in desperate disbelief, then the answer quickly came to her, She must have stowed away while our attentions were elsewhere!

"Elsa! Help me!" Anna called desperately as her hands slid down the handle.

"Hang on, Anna! Hang on!" Elsa called down to her, just as frantic. However, the handle was too slick with rain and ocean spray, and Anna screamed as she started to fall. Wasting no time, Elsa leapt down from the railing, angling herself to minimize wind resistance. When she'd caught up to Anna, Elsa formed an ice sphere around them both. Just before she could finish, however, the sphere struck the water's surface, causing Elsa to hit her head hard on the inner surface and black out.

* * *

When sensation returned to her, Elsa felt warm sun on her face again and the sensation of grass under her back. When she felt the gentle motion of rocking on the waves, Elsa concluded that she must have hit her head harder than she'd thought, because she'd have to be on a boat to be on the water, and who in their right mind would cover a ship's deck with grass? Still, the combination of the sensations was oddly comforting, making it seem as though the nightmare she'd just been through was just that, so she was content to let herself wake up as slowly as possible.

Her peaceful moment didn't last, however, as she felt something hard and dully pointed jabbing her in the face, accompanied by a rough voice gruffly asking, "Eh? You awake yet?"

"Cut that out, Moss Head!" another voice, which sounded rather suave despite the fact it was practically yelling, "That is no way to treat a beautiful lady!"

"And what do you know of how to treat a lady, you shitty cook?" the gruff voice retorted. Then she heard the sound of growling, followed shortly by the sharp metallic clangs she recognized as the sounds of a swordfight. Over the harsh cacophony, Elsa heard a higher-pitched voice, almost like that of a little boy, complaining, "Will you guys stop that? You're disturbing my patients!"

Finally, Elsa felt she had to open her eyes. Through her blurred vision, Elsa saw the last thing she'd expected. With his brown fur, pointed snout and rack of antlers it looked as though Sven was leaning over her. Elsa just attributed it to her head injury that she saw him with a blue nose and wearing some sort of oversized cap, as well as when he opened his mouth and said in that same little-boy voice, "Oh good, you're awake."

Rubbing her eyes to clear them, hoping to get better clarity, Elsa mumbled, "Sven?"

"Huh? What's a 'Sven'?" Elsa heard the voice say again, so she opened her eyes to look once more to see that creature still leaning over her. Taking stock of his appearance, Elsa felt that "creature" was the best-fitting descriptor of him. While he did have characteristics similar to that of a reindeer, he was far smaller than Sven or any other reindeer she'd ever seen, not to mention that he was standing on his hind legs and wearing clothes.

Looking away from this strange apparition, the sights that met her gaze convinced her that she must either be seeing things or still dreaming. It appeared to her that she was indeed on the deck of a ship, but this ship in fact did have a bed of grass covering it. Furthermore, moving across that deck in a deadly dance of blades was a pair of young men. One had a black bandana covering a head of hair so green it indeed did look as though it could have been moss, a vicious scar over his left eye, a white button-down shirt, black pants, and some sort of green scarf tied around his waist. The other man was had blond hair, one of those cigarette things she'd seen in New York clamped in his teeth, and he wore a black suit over a blue shirt and black tie. However, despite the serious nature of this fight, it appeared to be just as strange and unusual as everything else she'd seen thus far. For one thing, the man with the scar on his eye was wielding not one or two swords but three! One in each hand, and a third clamped in between his teeth! As for the dapper young man, he wasn't using any swords at all! All of his attacks and blocks were done entirely with his legs and feet! And even though such a one-sided battle ought to have been dangerous, even foolhardy, the swordsman didn't seem to be inflicting any injuries on the gentleman at all!

The fight, though intense, didn't seem to last very long at all. Once the gentleman saw Elsa sitting up, he broke off the battle with the swordsman, dancing his way over towards her as he called out in a sing-songy voice, " **K** **3** Beautiful lady! **K** **3** " Before he could reach her, however, someone cut across his path and struck him down. Squinting her eyes to see who intervened, Elsa saw that the one who knocked the gentleman down was a beautiful young woman. With her wavy red-orange hair, fair complexion, and ample figure, this young woman would have been stunning even if her scant clothing didn't leave little to the imagination. The expression on her face, however, wasn't so beautiful as her fist, still clenched from striking the gentleman, trembled as she said in an irritated voice, "Didn't you just hear Chopper say to cut it out, you pair of idiots!?"

Elsa then heard the sound of fabric flapping in the wind, and when she looked up to see her heart sank into her stomach. What she saw on the mast was a flag, and even though she'd only seen a flag like that once before, in Elsa's book that was once too many. "No, not again!" Elsa said fretfully, her terrified gaze transfixed on the skull and crossbones set in the black field as she scrambled backwards in a crab-walk fashion.

When her scrambling hands fell on something soft and warm, Elsa looked and her heart froze over again. Lying there on the grassy deck behind her was Anna! Although her chest was rising and falling normally, her lips appeared to be an unnatural shade of blue. Gathering Anna into her arms, Elsa asked frantically, "Anna!? What's wrong!?" When Anna didn't respond, Elsa turned her glare at those around her and demanded, "What did you people do to her!?"

"It's okay miss, she just got a little too cold, but Chopper already treated her," Another young woman, this one with jet-black hair, ample figure and far too little clothing assured her. However, for some strange reason, the kindness Elsa saw in her eyes calmed her as, with a long nosed man wearing a strange cap looked over her shoulder, the young woman continued, "All she needs now is some rest and she'll be fine. Don't worry, no one here will harm you."

" 'She'll be fine'?" Elsa asked in disbelief as she looked around at this eclectic gathering of characters, "Just where are we? Who are you people?"

As if in response to her inquiry, a young man leapt from the upper wheel-deck and swung from a rope dangling from a mast….no, it wasn't a rope: it was that his arm stretched an unnatural length and _grabbed_ the mast. Then, when the young man landed, his arm snapped back in shape as he smiled proudly and pointed at his scar-crossed chest and said, "I'm Monkey D. Luffy! And I'm going to be King of the Pirates!"


	2. Chapter 2: Trust

**Trust**

As Elsa looked on this eclectic group, protectively cradling Anna's head in her lap, she had to reflect on their situation. Not only did they seem to be lost, again, but Elsa once again found herself onboard a pirate ship with no allies nearby or a easy way off. Of course Anna was here, but Elsa didn't even know what effect her own powers would have against this group, whose leader seemed to possess strange abilities that made her own gifts seem normal. It seemed strange to Elsa that a boy so young would be the leader of a group of pirates & would be brazen enough to declare himself the king of all pirates, especially since some in this group seemed rather strong themselves, but she figured that this Luffy character could just tie the dissenters up with his rubber-like arms & submerge them under the ocean's surface until they consented to follow him.

Before she could decide to take chance that her ice could slow this group long enough for her to try and get Anna out of here, Elsa felt Anna stir in her arms as she let out a groan. "Anna?" Elsa asked frantically as she carefully supported Anna's shifting weight, "Are you okay?"

"Elsa?" Anna said as she rubbed her eyes to clear them, "Well, my head hurts a bit, but otherwise I feel fine. What about you? You had a nasty bump on your head, and I was afraid you wouldn't wake up."

"Your head…?" Elsa asked in concern as she examined Anna from every angle. Then she took a hissing breath through her clenched teeth as she spotted the yellowing bruise just under her hairline. "They struck you!?" Elsa growled as she turned and glared at Luffy's group.

As she felt her power rising to her command, Elsa hesitated when she felt Anna restraining hand fall on her shoulder and she said, "No, Elsa. I'm pretty sure that it was from bouncing around inside your sphere while on those rough seas, all while trying and failing to keep the remaining hole in it blocked and the sea from coming inside. Of course my headache may instead be from being inside it for so long without a warmer coat."

"I would say it would be both," the little reindeer-man Elsa thought she heard the red-head call Chopper say, "You're definitely looking better, but I would still recommend that you rest for a bit longer, preferably under some warm blankets. If you're feeling up to it, I can show you to one of our spare cots."

Anna blinked her eyes to focus them, then she smiled friendlily at Chopper and said, "Hello again there, Little Sven."

Chopper looked rather irritated as he yelled at Anna in indignation, "I told you! My name's Chopper, not Sven! Tony Tony Chopper!"

Anna looked confused as she asked, "What kind of name is 'Chopper'?"

"Well what kind of stupid name is 'Sven'!?" Chopper indignantly countered, "Sounds like it was made up by an idiot who never learned how to use vowels properly!"

Now it was Anna's turn to look indignant as she said, "For your information, it was my boyfriend who came up with that name! Sven is the name of the reindeer who happens to be Kristoff's best friend in the whole world, and he's one of the bravest, most noble creatures I've ever known next to the Gargoyles. He saved me and Elsa more than once."

"And that's why you called me 'Sven', because you thought I was him? That doesn't make me happy at all, you big jerk!" Chopper responded, though the strange face and the odd swaying motion he did told Elsa that he was lying about not being pleased about Anna's unintentional comparison.

Elsa's head was still swimming with everything that was going on, trying to get everything straight, when she saw a hand extended into her peripheral vision. Looking up, she saw that the gentleman had gotten back onto his feet, and he was extending his hand towards her and Anna as he said, "If you ladies would permit me, I would be honored to escort you both to the sleeping quarters."

Before Elsa could decide whether she would accept his offer to help her up or if she was going to freeze this creep solid, the fiery red-head struck the man on the head with her fist again as she yelled, "The hell you are, you letch! Chopper and I can get them to the cots by ourselves!"

 _Sorry, guys,_ Elsa thought to herself, deciding that she had enough, _but it's time for Anna and I to be taking our leave._ As she reached her hand up to her neck she gasped in shock. There was nothing there! Elsa looked all around frantically, straining her eyes for the tell-tale glint and glow that would betray its presence, but she found nothing. It was gone! "My pendant! Where is it!?" Elsa cried out frantically, fear and desperation coloring her tone. When her eyes fell once again on Luffy's group, Elsa's eyes narrowed in suspicion as she asked in an accusatory tone, "What have you pirates done with it? Give it back to me now!"

"Please, take a deep breath and calm yourself, miss," the raven-aired young woman said to her gently, "What is this pendant that you're talking about?"

Although the woman's gentle nature threatened to soothe her again, Elsa determinedly refused to lower her guard again. Setting her jaw, Elsa fixed her glare on the woman and felt her anger rising to its peak, nearly overshadowing the fear and despair she felt as she snarled, "Don't play games with me, pirate! If you don't return my pendant to me this minute I swear I will send the lot of you to the bottom of the sea with my own hands!"

"Look, miss, none of us saw anything that looked like a pendant when we fished you in that overgrown hailstone out of the sea," the red-head said in a sincere tone that had a touch of irritation coloring it, but then Elsa saw her face change, the undeniable glint of greed in her eyes as the woman continued eagerly, "But if one of us happened to find it somewhere, then what kind of reward would we be looking at here?"

This last comment nearly sent Elsa over the edge, and she swiftly got to her feet & prepared to fire an ice blast at the deck. Before she could, however, Elsa once again felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking back, she saw that Anna was unsteadily on her feet, a pleading look on her face as she said, "Please, Elsa, just calm down. For me, okay? Everything is going to be all right."

Seeing her sister trying her best to be brave and strong, even though Anna probably currently didn't even have the strength to knock over a feather, caused all the anger to drain out of Elsa, leaving her with only her fear and despair as she said, "But Anna, we have no idea where we are. That pendant might be our only way of getting back home."

"I know," Anna responded calmly, though she was panting as she did, "I kinda guessed that when I first saw this ship and crew. However, I don't think that they had anything to do with your pendant disappearing. In fact, I think I might have seen it fall out of the hole in your sphere when we were rolling on the waves, but as we were tumbling around at the time I couldn't be sure. Regardless, we had made it back home before, so I'm sure we can get back there again."

"Come on, miss. Let's get you into the sick bay before you collapse again," Chopper said to Anna, and Elsa's eyes bugged out as she saw the little reindeer man change abruptly into a large, muscular creature who was nearly as big as Stoick the Vast, though his head remained about the same size and shape. Anna, however, showed no overt reaction as she accepted the offered arm as he escorted her to a door leading to the inside of the structure rising from the quarterdeck. After they had stepped inside, the raven-haired young woman said, "I'm sorry about the circumstances that lead to our meeting, but I don't believe we properly introduced ourselves. My name is Robin. The red-head is Nami, our navigator, and the guy she clobbered is Sanji, our ship's cook. You've already met Chopper, our ship's doctor, and the skeleton is Brook, our musician."

Elsa wasn't sure about how she felt her sister being left alone with a doctor with the name of "Chopper". However, her mind was currently fixated by the latest of Robin's revelations as she asked in stunned disbelief, "I'm sorry, but did you say 'skeleton'!?" When she caught a movement to her side, Elsa tuned to look and had to stifle a scream. Standing a short distance away, dressed in the gaudiest clothes she had ever seen was a skeleton. She didn't know how she could have missed it, as this….thing outstripped even Alvin the Treacherous for height (although, being a skeleton, it was much skinnier), or how it could be standing or moving, as there wasn't any skin, muscles, or ligaments Elsa could see to hold it together. Nonetheless, move it did as it tucked his cane under his arm, held his crown-like top hat on his hair-covered skull and said in a low and friendly voice, "Forgive me for not introducing myself earlier, as you were unconscious at the time. However, now that we've officially met….can I see your panties?"

"No!" Nami yelled as she punched Brook hard in the back of the head, causing him to fall forward into a prone position on the deck.

"Ouch! Nami, that really hurt! I think you might have knocked my eyes out of my head," Brook complained from his prone position, "Although I'm a skeleton, so I don't have any eyes _to_ knock out. Ho ho ho ho ho!"

The skeleton's laughter must have been contagious, As Robin chuckled briefly as she continued, "Sorry about that, Brook's always been that way. Anyway, the guy with the long nose is Usopp, our expert gunner, and the big guy with the metal arms is Franky, the shipwright who built and modified this ship. The one with the green hair and the scar over his eye is Zoro, our ship's first-mate and expert swordsman. Finally the kid with the straw hat and the scarred chest is Monkey D Luffy, our captain."

Elsa's instincts still told her that she shouldn't trust these people, that they could turn out to be exactly like Black Adder's men. However, she could not summon up the energy to maintain her guard, so she sighed and said simply, "I'm Elsa, and my sister your doctor took into the back is Anna."

Robin smiled warmly and extended her hand daintily towards Elsa as she said, "A pleasure to meat you, Elsa."

Elsa took Robin's hand briefly, and even managed a small smile. Then she released it and leaned back against the railing behind her as she asked, "I'm sorry to ask this of you, considering how I'd treated you initially, but I was hoping that you could tell me just where it is that we are, how Anna and I managed to get here."

"This is the half of the Grand Line known as the New World, a rich and hazardous stretch of water which lies in-between the North Blue and West Blue," Robin explained, though the way she calmly said it was 'hazardous' unnerved Elsa, "As for how you had got here, I was hoping you could tell us. You see…"

* * *

 _Hours earlier…._

Luffy is draped backwards over the railing, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he complains, "Ach, it's too hot here! Franky, can't we go any faster?"

Franky, at the ship's wheel, clangs his two arms over his head as he smiles and says, "Suuuper-no can do, Luffy! The wind isn't strong enough, and our cola reserves are seriously depleted. Until we get to the next village to restock, we only have enough to run the engine for an hour or for a single Coup-De-Burst, so we better save it for an emergency."

Luffy groaned again, then a sudden shade fell across his face, catching Luffy's attention as he focused his gaze on what caused it. Apparently Usopp also saw it, as he pointed up at the large object casting a shadow over the ship, yelling, "Look out! Franky, turn the ship!"

Franky managed to alter the ship's course just before the falling object splashed into the water just off the ship's port bow. Luffy, who had been leaning against that railing, felt himself momentarily weakened as he was drenched by the splash. Although she and Chopper had also been well within range of the splash, Robin managed to create a shield wall with her Hana-Hana Fruit power that sheltered both of them, and although the exposure of her extra limbs to the ocean water also affected her she seemed fine. Only Brook, Franky and Nami managed to stay outside the range of the splash, but neither Zoro, Sanji nor Usopp were Devil Fruit eaters, so they were all fine.

"What was that?" Luffy said somewhat groggily.

Sanji looked over the railing before announcing, "It looks like a giant hailstone."

Usopp also looked down at it, screaming loudly before he yelled, "It's huge! That could have sunk us! Nami, you're supposed to be our weather-wise navigator, why didn't you warn us!?"

"Usopp, you know that weather can be rather unpredictable here in the New World!" Nami snapped back, "Besides, there was no indication we were entering a giant hail storm." Nami then licked her finger and held it up in the air for a moment before saying, "there doesn't seem to be any more on the way, though."

"Are you sure?" Usopp said uncertainly, "If any more like that fall here we could be goners. Maybe we should use Coup-De-Burst to get out of the area, just in case."

Luffy, however, wasn't paying any attention to either of them. Staring down at the huge hailstone, drool poured out of his huge grin as he said, "That looks so cold! I bet it would be great crushed up into our drinks! I'm gonna bring it up here right now!" Before anyone could advise him otherwise, Luffy swung his arm back and forth, which stretched and flexed with each pass back and forth, as he cried out, "Gum Gum Fly Fishing!" Then he snapped his arm down towards the huge floating ball of ice. As soon as his hand made contact, however, Luffy screamed out in pain and his arm snapped back into shape, and he began blowing on it as he complained, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Geez, that's cold!"

Robin chuckled and said, "That's okay, Luffy, I can do it."

"Are you sure, Robin?" Nami asked in concern, "Seems like it's pretty cold."

Robin smiled at her and said, "Compared to the time I spent out at Tequila Wolf and Baltigo, I'm sure that it'll feel like little more than a cool breeze to me." Then after concentrating for a moment, she cried out, "Cien Fleur! Spider Net!" The others then watched as her arms sprouted out of the ship's mast, multiplying as they grew out of the palms and at right angles out of the elbows, forming a then that reached down around the ice ball and into the water. Luffy and is friends saw Robin experience some discomfort, though whether it was due to the cold or her weakness to the ocean she didn't say, but in a matter of moments the ball of ice was hauled onto the ship's deck just before the net of arms vanished into a cloud of cherry blossom petals.

"Hmm, this is strange. This hailstone seems to be hollow," Nami announced after inspecting it for a moment. Then, squinting into the darkness within, she suddenly took a stem back as she said, "And there seems to be something moving inside!"

Usopp screamed in fright as he said, "Quick! Push it back into the water! It's probably some horrible monster that's gonna eat us all!"

Zorro and Brook drew their swords, and Franky prepared his built-in cannons. Robin, however, cried out to stop them, saying, "Wait, look!"

As they watched, a dainty hand gripped the edge of the hole before a young woman with long, strawberry blond hair leveraged her face up to it, groggily calling out, "Hello?"

* * *

"After that, we broke you and Anna out of that hollow hailstone, and Chopper treated you both," Robin explained, "Of course your sister wasn't in any shape at the time to explain how you guys had gotten in it in the first place, and you were unconscious at the time. Strangely enough, while your sister seemed to be suffering from extreme exposure to the cold, you yourself apparently were only made unconscious by a blow to the head according to Chopper. It was as if the cold of the ice didn't bother you at all."

"Never has, so long as I can remember, although I'm as susceptible to a blow to the head as anyone else," Elsa told her, "As for how we got here, your guess is as good as mine. Suffice it to say, I don't believe that we're from anywhere around here. I certainly hadn't heard of this Grand Line, West Blue, North Blue, anything like that. Our major bodies of water are the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean…"

"I see, fascinating," Robin said thoughtfully, "What about that pendant of yours?"

"Excuse me?" Elsa asked in confusion.

"Well, I overheard you telling your sister that the pendant you lost might be the only way you have of getting home," Robin explained, "I just thought it might possess some sort of teleportation abilities, that it might have been what brought you here in the first place."

"Oh!" Elsa said, "No, it's nothing like that. The pendant was a gift from….a friend. He is the one who can travel between worlds, between timelines. The pendant simply has a stone in it that, when activated, emits an energy signature that he can detect wherever and whenever it is."

"I see," Robin said, sounding somewhat disappointed, "I thought it might have been like how the Nexus Cave is, or at least how it is supposed to be."

"The Nexus Cave?" Elsa asked her.

"It's a rather fascinating place, one that is said that the laws of physics don't apply," Robin told her, "If one were able to unlock its secrets, then one could potentially learn as much from them as we can from the poneglyphs. Some believe that it was from this cave and from others like it that the Devil Fruits had originally come from. It's even said that one could use them to go anywhere they wanted just by thinking of it. However, supposedly anyone who's foolish enough to use them would be cursed just as severely as if they'd eaten a Devil Fruit, which grants great power in exchange for losing the ability to swim ever again. Unfortunately it's impossible to know for sure. Much of the information from during and even before the Void Century was lost, or perhaps hidden, as I suspect that it was by the World Government. The scientists of Ohara, which had effectively been the closest thing I had to a family I had since my mother went off to discover the true history of the world, had been studying the Poneglyph on our own island. Even though such research had been forbidden (ostensibly on the grounds that they contained information on the locations of the Ancient weapons that could destroy the world), the scientists still did it in order to discover the secrets hidden in the unrecorded Void Century. When they deciphered what was there, the World Government had them and everyone else on Ohara, including my mother who'd returned to warn them, killed in order to keep the dark secret the scientists had learned from ever seeing the light of day. I would have been killed too, but with some help I was able to escape that massacre."

"I….I'm sorry to hear that," Elsa told her, "I know what it's like to lose a loved one, although mine was taken back then due to an act of god rather than an assassination."

"Thanks," Robin acknowledged with a smile, "Anyway, that's why I started to sail with Luffy, as any 'legitimate' sailor would turn a fugitive like me in to the Government, though I continued to stay with them when I learned just what true friends they were. Of course I'm still determined to find out what it is about this Void Century that the World Government is so determined to keep hidden, but my friends will always come first." For a moment Robin was silent, and Elsa guessed she was reminiscing on some special memory. Then she focused on Elsa again and said, "Sorry I got off track. About the Nexus Caves, there used to be quite a few of them, but the World Government had most of them destroyed, likely for the same reason they destroyed Ohara. Now only this one in the New World remains, probably because most who venture here never return, and the island it's on isn't very far from here. If you'd like, we can take a little detour that way, so you can see if you can use it to get back home."

Elsa started to open her mouth to say "of course", but she closed it again before any sound came out. On one hand, a place where she and Anna could get back home just by thinking about it sounded great. On the other hand, it sounded too good to be true, and the one who's offered this option to her was, after all, a pirate.

"You're having trouble trusting us," Robin said in a sympathetic voice, "That's okay, you probably have a good reason to distrust pirates. I too had some major trust issues, due to everyone betraying me once the World Government put such a huge bounty on my head as a kid. Even when I started sailing with Luffy I didn't fully trust them, despite how fond I was growing of them. That's why, when CP9 caught up to me at Water 7, I gave myself up to them. I figured it would be better to sacrifice myself to save them before the pressure from the World Government caused Luffy and his crew to think I was too great a burden, before they hated and betrayed me. It wasn't until they chased after me, despite my apparent 'betrayal', even penetrating so deep into the previously impenetrable Enies Lobby and effectively declaring war on the World Government all in order to rescue me, that I had seen just how badly I'd misjudged them and sold them short. That was when my heart truly opened up enough to truly trust other again."

"I'm sorry," Elsa told her, though she wasn't sure exactly what it was she was apologizing to.

"I told you, there's no need to apologize," Robin replied, "I completely understand. If you feel you can not trust us about the Nexus Cave, then if you prefer we can instead drop you and your sister off at the nearest inhabited island to make other arrangements you'd feel better with."

"Really?" Elsa asked her.

Robin nodded as Nami added, "Absolutely. Believe me, I can completely understand your stance on pirates, due to my experiences with Arlong and his crew. We were originally heading to this one island to refuel and resupply, and if you'd like we could let you off there."

The gentleman named Sanji, back on his feet, lit the cigarette in his mouth and exhaled out a thin stream of smoke before saying, "Wherever my beautiful damsels want to go, that's where we'll go."

"Aww! I wanted to see the Nexus Cave! It sounds so fun!" Luffy groaned in complaint.

"Luffy!" Usopp admonished him.

"Okay, okay!" Luffy reluctantly conceded, "Boring village it is. At least there'll be meat."

 _How can I be mistrusting these people now?_ Elsa thought to herself, _Especially after they've been so accommodating?_ As Elsa considered to herself just what it was she really wanted to do, she heard the unmistakable sound of a cannon blast which was subsequently followed by an impact splash off of the ship's starboard side. Following the blast to its source, Elsa saw a trio of ships behind them and closing fast. Even if the flags they were flying weren't clue enough that these new ships were the enemy of Luffy and his crew, the fact that the fact that the flag's logo was also printed in the huge sails with "Marine" printed right below that would leave no doubt.

As the pursuing ships fired off another huge volley of cannonballs, Luffy leaped up into the air, and Elsa watched as Luffy took a deep breath and inflated his chest like a giant balloon, bouncing the cannon fire with his rotund form.

"The Marines!?" Usopp cried out in a panicked voice, "How did they find us!?"

"We must have crossed paths with a Marine patrol route while we were too busy with Anna and Elsa to notice," Nami explained as Brook, Sanji, and Zoro also got involved in the defense of the ship, deflecting and destroying the shells with a series of sword slashes and kicks.

"But how are they catching up to us with hardly any wind?" Usopp asked them again.

"Marine ships have special engines that allow them to traverse the calm belt, which has no wind at all, or had you forgotten what Luffy's friend told us back at Water 7?" Robin responded before crying out, "Gigantesco Mano!" Elsa watched in amazement as a multitude of arms grew out of the side of the ship, which soon melded together into a pair of gigantic arms. Then, as Robin cried out, "Spank!" the huge arms began to swat away the incoming cannonballs.

"What's going on?" Chopper asked frantically as he came out of the room he'd entered earlier.

"The Marines has found us!" Nami explained quickly, "We've got to get out of here!"

"Chopper, can you go below and make sure that the cola engines are primed and ready?" Franky asked him as he blasted the cannonballs out of the air with his own cannons which were previously concealed inside his shoulders.

"Got it!" Chopper acknowledged as he opened a hatch that had been camouflaged in the deck and descended through it.

As the conflict seemed to stretch on, though in reality not much time had passed, Elsa couldn't see how it would end well. Though this crew was fighting astonishingly well (even Usopp, who was showing remarkable still with his huge slingshot), the incoming fire was only intensifying, and Elsa figured it was only a matter of time before one got through. When that happened, everyone here would be killed, including her sister. That thought brought her anger boiling back to the surface. As Elsa strode towards the starboard railing where she saw the ships coming from, Robin suggested to her, "Why don't you go inside with your sister, where it's safe? We've got this."

"No," Elsa adamantly declined in a determined voice, "Maybe I'm still not sure if you guys can be completely trusted or not, but there's one thing I'm sure of. This indiscriminate fire is threatening the safety of my sister, and _nobody threatens my sister!_ " With a huge burst of energy, Elsa unleashed a blast of arctic air towards their attackers, the sudden cold causing ice to form on the incoming cannonballs and sending them splashing harmlessly into the water beside them. Then Elsa unleashed another blast of power into the water, sending a wave of ice to radiate out from their starboard side to surround and trap the pursuing vessels, stopping them cold.

"Wow!" Nami said in astonishment, "Did you see that?"

"Just like Aokiji," Usopp said in just a dumbfounded voice.

"But that's impossible," Robin countered in disbelief, "Former Admiral Aokiji is still alive, isn't he? And for Elsa to have taken his Devil Fruit power he would have needed to die first."

"The cola engine is ready!" Chopper announced as he emerged again from the deck hatch, then when he saw what happened to the Marine vessels he asked, "When did Aokiji get here?"

"Later, Chopper. Now brace yourselves, everyone!" Franky called out, " _Coup De Burst!_ "

Had it not been for Franky's warning, Elsa might have toppled over the railing and into the water as the ship suddenly shot forward into the air. As it was, she felt that she had left her stomach behind with the Marine ships, which were rapidly shrinking away and vanishing into the distance. When the ship finally splashed down moments later, Elsa felt she could finally breathe again.

"First time flying?" Nami asked her.

"Not really," Elsa answered them honestly, "I flew a couple of times on my dragon, Aurora, and before that I flew in a sleigh that was pulled by Sven and sprinkled with some pixie dust, but both times I was sitting down for the flight." When she was met with blank stares, Elsa continued, "It's kinda a long story. I know that you guys must have some questions, but if the offer's still open I'd like to go to the Nexus Cave with you."

"Of course," Nami agreed readily, "We'll just need to pick up some cola and other supplies real quick from the village, as we may need to make another quick getaway, but after that we'll gladly take you where you need to go."

Robin gave Elsa a quick grateful hug as she said, "Thank you for trusting us."

"No. It is I who should be thanking you," Elsa replied, "for saving us earlier and for helping us now."

"You're quite welcome," Robin told her.

"Okay, now that that's over, Elsa do you think that you could send some of that wind of yours into our sails, at least until the wind picks back up again?" Usopp asked her, "That is, before the Marines manage to get free and come after us again?"

"Of course," Elsa agreed, then she caused a firm and cool wind to blow into the ship's sails, driving the boat forward at a good clip."

"Woohoo! Alright!" Luffy crowed from atop the ship's figurehead, "Adventure, here we come!"

* * *

Meanwhile, on a nearby island…

"What!? Are you sure!?" a Marine officer shouted into the Den Den Mushi. As the response came over it, the officer replied, "Well just get free as best you can. We'll head that way shortly." After he hung up the call, the officer turned and saluted as he said, "Admiral Fujitora! I'm afraid I have some distressing news to report. A patrol a short distance from here had spotted the Straw Hats, but before they could capture them Admiral Aoki….sorry, I meant former Admiral Aokiji intervened and helped them escape."

Admiral Fujitora, with his admiral's coat draped loosely over his hakama, touched his hand to his heavily scarred face as he said, "Oh dear, this is not good."

"Oh really?" A deep voice retorted, "My old 'friend' Aokiji finally shows his true colors? It sounds as though this assignment has just gotten interesting!"

"No!" Fujitora retorted adamantly in a firm voice, "I already told you, Akainu, I neither need nor want your help."

"Well, what you want or think you need makes no difference," Akainu retorted, not shifting from his relaxed position of leaning against the ship, "Had you managed to capture Straw Hat at Dressrosa, like you were supposed to, instead of letting his 'revolutionary' brother get in your way, then this situation would not have come up in the first place. Because of your failure, the Gorosei have put me in charge of this operation, and if Aokiji has truly joined forces with the Straw Hats then there's no way you can take them down without me. So like it or not, you're under my command for this operation. If you have a problem with that, I suggest you take it up with the Gorosei."


	3. Chapter 3: Stricken

**Stricken**

As she and Anna walked down the street with Robin and Nami, a love-struck Sanji carrying the larger part of the load from their shopping trip, Elsa heard Robin ask her, "So, you've never heard of the World Government before we met?"

"Never, but after having been to Neverland, America, the Earth Kingdom and the isle of Berk, the fact that a place like this exists doesn't really surprise me," Elsa told her, "but I'm not sure how so many countries, so many people could be part of a government that would do what it did to your home."

"I think it's a matter of that they look the other way, that they do what is necessary to not give them an excuse to do the same to them," Robin explained to her, "Of course Ohara isn't the only place that's suffered under the World Government. Trafalgar Law, a friend of sorts of Luffy's, had come from White Town, a once prosperous mining town so named for the beautiful White Lead their people excavated. The metal was so beautiful, in fact, that both the people of White Town and the Celestial Dragons, that's what the ruling families of the World Government call themselves by the way, both prospered immensely. However, what the people of White Town didn't know, what the Government didn't tell them, was that White Lead releases a poison when dug up. This poison builds up in the bodies of those who unearthed it and shortens their life expectancy. Even worse, the poison concentration in the parents is passed down to their children, giving them an even lower life expectancy, with the original generation having a life expectancy of 70, the next would die at around 50, the next at 30, and so it went until Law's generation, which would die at only 10 years old."

"That's horrible!" Anna exclaimed, looking horrified.

"Yeah. Well, I won't bore you with the gory details. Suffice it to say that after propaganda (likely spread by the Celestial Dragons, to cover up their involvement) claiming that the poison ailing them was actually an infectious disease, and the residents' attempt to escape their quarantine led to a violent conflict, Law ended up the only survivor of that once beautiful town, and if he hadn't happened to eat the Ope-Ope fruit he would have died long ago," Robin told them, "Anyway, what I'm rather curious about right now is your gift, that thing you used against those marine ships earlier. You're certain that you've never eaten a Devil Fruit before?"

"Fairly sure," Elsa answered her, "As nasty as you say those things taste, I'm pretty sure I'd remember eating something like that. No, I've almost never even left my palace, and all that time I've only ever eaten meals prepared by our family's servants, most of those taken in my room."

"Really?" Nami responded in a tone of disbelief, "You've never even sneaked a snack or anything?"

"Well…" Elsa replied thoughtfully, "there was that time Anna and I snuck some of those chocolates out of the tin in the kitchen, some time before Anna's accident. You remember, Anna…?" Elsa trialed off as she looked at Anna, smiling and shaking her head ruefully as she answered herself, "Of course you wouldn't. Anyway, the punishment our father saddled us with discouraged us from trying it again for quite some time, and after Anna's accident happened a couple months later I kept myself locked in my room and away from her from then until the day I became Queen."

"Actually….I think I _do_ remember!" Anna said in a tone that was as awe filled as it was bewildered, "Dad made us stay up practically all night shoveling that snowdrift you'd created to let us climb up to the counter, then we had to mop up the runoff that remained. I'd never felt so exhausted in my entire life."

"That's right, but how can you possibly remember that?" Elsa replied in disbelief and confusion, "The trolls' memory magic…?"

"Don't know. Maybe dying twice in less than a year has caused cracks to appear in that wall of false memories Grandpabby created for me," Anna confessed with a shrug, and Elsa felt her heart wince at the reminder of the pain from those events. Her expression must've ben something to behold, as Anna then looked stricken as she frantically apologized, "Oh Elsa, I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking….I'm such a doodlehead"

"That's alright, Anna. It happened, and I just have to learn to deal with it," Elsa assured her, "I won't be any good serving as Queen if I let something like that incapacitate me or impair my judgment every time it's brought up, and I don't want to make you feel you have to keep away to avoid hurting me, the way I locked myself in my room to avoid hurting you."

Anna still looked deeply apologetic, but at least she offered Elsa a smile which Elsa returned gratefully. Sanji had been so quiet the entire trek through the town that Elsa had nearly forgotten that he was there. However, as the rounded a corner and the pier where the Thousand Sunny was docked came into view, Sanji piped up and said, "You're a Queen, right, and when you and your sister took those chocolates you were the crown princess? So why didn't you just have your servants clean up the snow?"

"Because Dad wouldn't let us. After all, it wouldn't be much of a punishment if we had someone else do the work, now wouldn't it?" Elsa replied, "Besides, Dad was rather set on me keeping my powers a secret back then, and asking a servant to clean up the snow would raise too may questions, as it was a little early for such weather back then."

"Well, I think it was wrong for your father to make you hide your gift like he did," Sanji told her in a low voice, "I think that you're perfect just the way you are."

Normally, when someone assured her like this, Elsa felt better. However, the sultry way Sanji said this made it sound rather creepy. Following an impish impulse, Elsa flicked her finger & caused a small icicle to form at an angle in front of Sanji, which tripped him and caused him to trip and fall on his face. Over the sounds of Nami's pealing laughter, Elsa turned back towards Sanji and said with a smirk and a sarcastic tone, "If I were you, Romeo, I would focus more on watching where I was walking."

"Huh?" Sanji said in a dazed tone as he raised his head to look at her, "Who's Romeo?"

"Never mind," Elsa replied with a quick chuckle, "Let's just get back to the ship." After Sanji picked himself and his parcels back up off the ground, Elsa and the other resumed walking towards the ship, where Luffy was eagerly bouncing up and down on the deck and urging them to hurry up. "Anyway, back to your previous question," Elsa continued to Robin, "The largest reason I believe I've never eaten a Devil Fruit is the drawback you said that they all share: that they rob you of the ability to swim, and that your ability to use your gift is severely weakened or blocked completely. I get that correct?" When Robin nodded in confirmation, Elsa continued, "Well, if my power came from a Devil fruit, then I wouldn't have been able to save the crew member when he fell overboard off my ship, as I had dived into the water after him. Yet I managed to not only get us both out of the water, but when that last wave threatened to destroy our ship I managed to encase our entire crew in ice spheres just like the one Anna and I were in before it hit. You guys said that ours was the only one you'd found?" When Nami nodded yes, an apology in her eyes, Elsa sighed and said, "I guess the two of us were the only ones to have fallen through the cracks then. I hope the captain and his crew are alright, that somebody was able to find and get to them in time."

"I'm sure they will be," Anna assured her.

"I hope so," Elsa responded as the docked ship came within view. However, as Elsa stepped onto the pier she felt a wave a nausea that upset her balance, causing her to stagger sideways until Robin caught her before she could stumble into the water beside her.

"Elsa!" Anna exclaimed in concern, with Nami, Robin and Sanji wearing similar expressions of worry, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I think that getting worked up in this heat just wore me out faster than I was expecting," Elsa assured her, feeling her head throb with the waves of the heat as sweat ran off her brow, "You feeling warm, Anna?"

"Actually, it feels a bit cool to me," Anna responded, rubbing her arms as she did so, "Are you sure that you're feeling okay?"

"Yeah, and once we get back on board the ship where I can relax I'm sure I'll feel as right as rain," Elsa assured her. Anna still looked concerned, but she nodded in acknowledgement as she took Robin's place in supporting Elsa and started up the gangplank. Even though Elsa protested that she didn't need the assistance, secretly she was glad for the help as her legs felt as rubbery as they did when she was first rescued from the Jolly Roger (though she was sure there was no roaring fire under her this time).

As she stepped onto the Sunny's deck, Elsa saw that the other crew members had noticed her, their faces clouding with concern as Luffy asked, "Hey, Elsa? You okay?"

"Yeah, you're looking even paler than usual," Usopp seconded.

Chopper abruptly turned around and headed towards the cabin house in the back, calling out over his shoulder, "I'll go get my supplies!"

"Really guys, I'm fine. Just a little tired," Elsa assured him, though she doubted Chopper heard her as he'd already disappeared behind the door, "I'll feel even better when the supplies are on board the ship and we've set sail again, heading to that place you think can get us home."

The others still looked concerned, but they must have come to the conclusion that arguing with her wouldn't help right now, so they finished loading and cast off. Barely a minute after setting sail Chopper emerged from his room again, his doctor's bag in hand. As he began to examine her, Elsa protested, "Really, Chopper, there's no need for that. Just a little rest I'll be fin….fi…" Elsa was cut off by a tickling sensation in her nose. Though she tried to stifle it, she soon let off a tremendous sneeze that caused her head to throb even worse. When the spots cleared from her eyes, she saw before her nearly a dozen mini-Marshmallows (mini-Olafs?) arranged around them and a couple on Anna's head.

"Aaaaahh!" Usopp exclaimed in surprise, "Tiny snowmen!"

"So cute!" Chopper echoed, just as surprised.

 _Not again_ , Elsa groaned internally, but she was unable to do more then release another series of spectacular sneezes, and she seen that the number of mini-Marshmallows had nearly quintupled. Sniffing deeply, Elsa felt something cool on her forehead and she looked up to see Anna dabbing a damp cloth on her face as she said, "Oh, Elsa. The efforts you put in to save us from the storm and to help Luffy's crew get away from the Navy, on top of everything we've been through the last few weeks, must have caused you to overexert yourself again and given you another cold."

" 'Again'?" Robin asked, concern mixed with curiosity in her tone, "You mean to say this has happened before?"

Anna nodded as she answered, "It was during my last birthday. You remember, Elsa?"

Elsa wished she didn't, that the events of that day had happened differently. However, she just sighed and nodded, blowing her nose soundly (causing a few more mini-Marshmallows to appear and join those already running amok on the ship's deck) before responding, "It was the first one she had since my coronation, the first we had celebrated together since I'd shut myself away after the accident where I first hurt Anna, and I'd wanted it to be one to remember, to make up for all the ones we'd spent apart. Because I wanted it to be perfect I had to supervise all the preparations, even going so far as to do many of them myself. As a result, as Anna said, I overworked myself and got myself a spectacular cold. Instead of spending the day enjoying herself and having fun, Anna had to spend the day taking care of me in bed instead."

"But I did have fun," Anna protested, "I really enjoyed your letting me take care of you, especially after years of being shut out from you & not knowing you were dealing with such troubles and fears, and I really was glad that I was able to stop you from stumbling off the top of the clocktower in a fever-ridden stupor."

Sanji took a drag off his lit cigarette before commenting, "There's nothing more beautiful than the love between sisters."

Elsa sighed again, unsure whether this was another attempt of Sanji's to hit on her as Robin asked, looking equally concerned, confused and curious, "But I thought you weren't bothered by the cold."

"I'm not," Elsa clarified, "but being affected by _the_ cold is apparently rather different from catching _a_ cold." Then, as she blowed her nose, she noticed that the mini-Marshmallows were disappearing inside the ship. "Oh, but you'll want to be sure to keep the mini-Marshmallows out of the kitchen," Elsa warned them, "I learned that day just how ravenous those little guys can be."

"WHAT!?" Luffy exclaimed before turning and dashing through the door the mini-Marshmallows had gone through, followed closely by Sanji. _Don't tell me…_ Elsa thought to herself, but the rest of the thought was cut off by a loud scream coming from within. Moments later Luffy emerged again, his hands behind him and his fingers stretched out and woven into a large, bulging net apparently containing every single mini-Marshmallow, the look on his face telling Elsa just how upset he was.

"Elsa!" Luffy complained in a slightly whiny voice, "Your tiny snowmen ate all our food!" It looked as though he wanted to say more, but he was cut off as he was struck in the head simultaneously by a kick from Sanji, a punch from Nami, and a double-overhead blow from Chopper (who'd changed into his larger, more muscular form).

"That is no way to be speaking to a lady!" Sanji admonished his captain crossly.

"Don't be yelling at my sick patient!" Chopper growled at Luffy.

"You best apologize to Elsa right now!" Nami told him sternly.

"Sowwy!" Luffy told her, though his words came out slightly garbled through his squished face. Robin laughed at the sight, and even Elsa couldn't help letting out a chuckle at the sight of Luffy's head now smashed into a triangle shape.

"No, I'm sorry that this happened," Elsa told him, though her apology was cut short by Sanji who said, "There's no apology necessary. Our captain's just an idiot who's obsessed with food. Besides, he was exaggerating somewhat. While our food stores are rather depleted, we still have enough to make it most of the way to the next island, and the rest we can catch en route, so don't worry."

Elsa still felt bad, but she nodded and slumped against the railing as she turned towards Chopper and asked, "I don't suppose that you have the cure for a cold here in this world?"

"Afraid not, no," Chopper told her regretfully, shrinking back into his cuter, shorter form, "but we do have treatments to reduce the intensity and duration of their symptoms."

"And I have enough ingredients to brew up a delicious broth to chase away that nasty cold, making it a distant memory," Sanji added with pride.

"There's no need to go to such trouble," Elsa told him, though the effect was spoiled by her coughing under her breath.

"It is no trouble, milady," Sanji countered with a bow, "I would not be a proper gentleman if I ignored a maiden in distress." Then he danced back into the door he'd emerged from.

Elsa stared after him for a moment, her delirious brain shifting between the relief of being fussed over and her own uncomfortable reaction to Sanji's affections, then she turned her head towards Robin and asked, "He just doesn't give up, does he?"

Robin smirked in understanding as she replied, "Not that I've ever seen, no."

"Well, I suppose he'll just find a new object of obsession once we've used this place of yours to head home," Elsa said with a groan of resignation.

"He usually does," Robin said with a chuckle of agreement, then she smiled as she helped Elsa up again, saying nothing more as she helped Elsa to Chopper's room.

* * *

Relaxing in the cot Chopper made up for her, Elsa was a study of contrasts: touched and mortified, uncomfortable and comforted. The bittersweet liquid Chopper drizzled between her lips Elsa guessed was some sort of medicine as her head's pounding soon went from unbearable to merely painful, her mini-Marshmallow producing sneezes becoming far less frequent (of course the crew always rounded up those guys quickly and locked them up with the others _far_ from the kitchen _and_ the cola-powered engines and weapons.

Though her nose was still rather congested, Elsa smelled the delicious aroma of the soup Sanji was carrying a full minute before he entered the room with a bowl full of it, followed closely behind by Anna. Sanji had apparently wanted to feed it to her himself, but Anna insisted to do it instead. Sanji had pouted slightly then, but he recovered quickly and smiled as he handed the bowl over to her before bowing in acquiescence, his gentlemanly demeanor apparently making him unable to "refuse the request of a beautiful lady".

When Anna helped Elsa sit up in preparation to feed her, Elsa seen that it looked remarkably similar to the chicken soup Anna had fed her during the birthday debacle. However, the difference in taste between that soup and this one was _worlds_ different, much like the difference between merely sweet bread and the moistest of gourmet cake. Elsa couldn't even identify all the different flavors in it, but she found her tongue wrapping lovingly around each spoonful Anna fed her, every one warming her to her core. As she was being spoon-fed, Elsa listened as Anna described the ship's kitchen, about how one wall of the dining area was dominated by the most amazing aquarium. Elsa wished that she could have seen it herself, that she wasn't stuck helplessly in here.

It wasn't until she'd nearly polished off the bowl, however, that she'd noticed she'd gotten nearly all of her strength back, her cold a mere shadow of its former self. How she'd managed to recover this much this quickly she didn't know, as it took a couple days for her to get this better that last time, but she guessed that Chopper's miraculous medication and Sanji's amazing soup had something to do with it. Elsa wanted to finish her meal with her own hands but Anna gently declined, insisting she doesn't get opportunities like this very often.

After Anna had set the empty bowl aside and was busy dapping the soup off Elsa's mouth with a cloth, Robin opened the door and announced that they had arrived. Chopper assure her that she could rest there for a while longer, that he recommended it, but while Elsa thanked him for his offer she told him that she would rest better back in her own room, that she needed to find out what had happened back to the rest of the crew from her ship. Chopper, and coincidently Anna, still looked concerned, but he conceded.

Anna helped Elsa stand again, and for a bit Elsa needed the support to keep her rubbery legs beneath her, but by the time they were back to the door she was again walking unaided. After she'd placed so many hopes of the return of her and her sister on the island where this Nexus Cave was located, she was eager to see just what it looked like. When he saw it with her own eyes, however, she was kinda disappointed to see it looking so….ordinary. Maybe she was expecting something more because of her short yet eventful time with Luffy's unusual crew, but this island looked even smaller than the one in Neverland and (at least from the ship) just as rather plain looking. She couldn't even see the Nexus Cave at all, though it was possible it was hidden in the thicket of palm trees, much like how Aion's Eternal Shrine back in the Earth Kingdom looked just like an unassuming cave back in the Earth Kingdom, so maybe this Nexus Cave will be the same.

As Elsa stepped out of the small motorized rowboat-sized craft the others called the Mini-Merry she looked back at the Thousand Sunny, concerned about the mini-Marshmallows still on board. Luffy and the others had assured her that they'd find some island they could leave them on that wouldn't cause the little guys (or the local population, for that matter) any trouble. Still, Elsa couldn't help but worry for the little guys, and even though their creation was but a mere accident from a breach in the control over her powers she didn't want to think about them melting into oblivion when she was gone. Therefore, before boarding the landing craft, Elsa made sure to give each of them their own snow flurry cloud to sustain them. The effort made her head start throbbing again just a bit, but to Elsa the trade-off was worth it.

"You know, Elsa, you could rest up on the ship for a bit, until you're completely better, before you try and head home," Robin told her calmly, a note of concern coloring her tone, "I'm sure our captain wouldn't mind anchoring here for a mere day or two."

"Yeah," Luffy agreed, the usual joy lighting up his face, "I wanna hear more about those dragons of yours."

"I'd love to stay here longer and swap stories with you, really I would," Elsa told them earnestly, her lingering stuffiness causing her to sniff slightly, "But the sooner I can find out what happened to the crew of my ship after my sister and I were brought here, the sooner I'll be able to truly relax. We'll miss you all, I'm sure, but it's time for my sister and me to be heading home."

"Unfortunately, miss, I don't think that you'll be heading anywhere," Elsa heard behind her, causing her to whirl around towards the voice while the others tensed up, Zoro and Usopp grabbing their weapons and Anna gripping the frying pan Sanji had let her take from his kitchen. There, emerging from the treeline, Elsa saw a large number of men in crisp, white uniforms grab the rifles strapped to their backs and take aim at them as a couple of larger men came out behind them at took point in front.

Unlike their subordinates (Elsa guessed that they were of higher rank due to the extra ornamentation on their shoulders) these two men were not properly wearing their uniform jackets, preferring instead to drape said jackets over their shoulders, exposing their regular clothes underneath. The man in the purple yukata was obviously blind, due to the terrible scars crisscrossing his eyes and the walking stick held out before him, but Elsa had a feeling that didn't make him any less dangerous. As for the far more menacing man in the red suit, Elsa felt in the air around the man an aura of malevolence she hadn't felt since Princess Azula

It was obvious that the unexpected arrival of these men wasn't good for this Luffy's crew (nor, Elsa figured, was it ideal for her or her sister, since they were with them), but it appeared that Luffy and the man in red only had eyes for one another as the red-clad officer smirked and said around the cigar clamped in his teeth, "So, Straw Hat, are you now ready to finish what we began in Marineford?"

Luffy didn't answer, just keeping his baleful gaze trained on the man, and Elsa wondered what shared history between them could turn him from the jovial captain she'd become acquainted with to the hateful young man beside her now. Robin must have guessed her unasked question, and Elsa felt her sympathetic tension explode into full-blown anger as Robin said, "That must be the Admiral who killed Luffy's brother, Ace, during the Battle of Marineford."

"Akainu," Luffy practically growled.

"My apologies Straw Hat, everyone," the blind officer said in a tone that sounded both sincere and authoritive at the same time, "but in the name of the World Government I must now place you all under arrest!"


	4. Chapter 4: Sacrifice

**Sacrifice**

Looking back and forth between the two at the forefront of those who stood between her and the numerous marines who wanted to capture her and her sister (along with Luffy's group of pirates) and lock them up forever, Anna couldn't tell whose anger baffled and frightened Anna more. Of course, truth be told, Anna hadn't really known Luffy all that long. However, in the short time Anna _had_ known him he had seemed more like some happy-go-lucky kid. Even after witnessing his rather unusual powers (which made Elsa's, Aang's and even Harry's seem rather normal by comparison), Luffy simply hadn't seemed dangerous enough in Anna's opinion for a government to place such a high bounty on his head. However, as Luffy stood glaring at the admiral standing mere feet in front of him, the man who apparently had killed his brother a couple of years ago, Anna felt a thrill of fear travel up and down her spine, making her shiver.

Though it seemed out of place in him, however, at least Luffy's anger seemed mildly understandable to her. On the other hand, as Anna shifted her gaze to the one standing rock still by his side, Anna felt that Elsa's fury was much less comprehendible. After all, as short of a time as Anna had spent with Luffy and his crew, Elsa had spent even less (being either unconscious from the blow to the head she'd taken after saving them both from the storm, or otherwise nursing her cold in the cot in Chopper's room). Not to mention that neither her nor Elsa had met or known Luffy's brother Ace at all, and Anna had only heard a little about him from the stories Luffy and his friends had told her, a small fraction of which she'd been able to relay to Elsa in her bed before they'd arrived here. So why was Elsa getting so worked up about this guy now? The only time Anna had seen Elsa exhibiting this much fury was when she had been facing the Quarrymen who had been torturing them both for information back in New York…

Anna groaned as soon as the realization had come to her. Of course, _that_ was the connection. In the end, it all boiled down to her. Anna guessed now that the reason Elsa was glaring at Admiral like she wanted to tear him limb from limb, to freeze him to his core and shatter him into a million pieces, was that she was connecting Ace's death to the time that Princess Azula had shot her with lightning and killed her. Anna sighed as she fervently and silently wished that Elsa would just let that go. Of course Anna hadn't felt that experience was too enjoyable, and there were times that she still had nightmares about it, but at least she was trying to keep moving forward and she wished that Elsa could do the same.

As if in answer to her unspoken plea, Elsa's face cleared as she straightened to assume a more regal bearing, the anger in her eyes no longer evident. Anna almost felt relieved, but then she recognized this as a mask Elsa sometimes wore during her more….difficult meetings. Anna was certain Elsa loved their people as much as she did, but even she had found some of their requests rather trying and repetitive (particularly the requests for ice, before she made the proclamation for them to defer to Kristoff on such matters.) It was in those moments that Elsa had developed this mask of airs she puts on, in order to maintain her composure and not upset those calling on her by letting on just how much such requests irritated her. Anna thought she'd seen Elsa use that mask back when she'd taken their father's suggestion concerning the Duke's invasion of Arendelle and second attempt on Elsa's life and tuned it into an official sentence, but perhaps her memories on that day were being filtered through all they'd been through since.

At any rate, it appeared that some of the rank-and-file naval soldiers were mistaking Elsa's shift into a less aggressive stance for a sign of surrender as some of them started to step towards her. However, they didn't get more than one step towards her before the large admiral Luffy called Akainu extended one arm out to block their path and said, "One moment. Straw Hat, we had gotten reports that Aokiji was travelling with you, that he had aided in your last escape, but he doesn't seem to be here with you now. I don't suppose that you can tell me where my 'old friend' has run off to now, can you?"

"Ice guy?" Luffy clarified, his look of fury momentarily displaced by a thoughtful one before he shrugged and continued, "Haven't seen him since Marineford."

"Don't take me for a fool, Straw Hat. We know that it was his ice powers that prevented our fleet from apprehending you before," Akainu argued firmly, "If you cooperate with us now, I'll personally see to it that your deaths are quicker and much less painful. Otherwise…."

"I believe that Luffy told you the truth," Elsa cut in, her voice as hard and cold as ice, "At least since my sister and I woke on his ship, back before your fleet attacked it, the only people we'd seen aboard are those you see here with us now. However, if it's ice and snow that you're after here…" Elsa paused a moment while she summoned up her full body ice armor, then she continued, "…I'd be more than happy to oblige."

From her position, Anna had seen that the effort Elsa put into creating her armor had overpowered Chopper's medicine that was fighting her cold somewhat, as her breathing became slightly rougher and a faint sheen of sweat appeared on Elsa's forehead. However, it appeared that none of the naval soldiers had noticed this as they jerked nervously away, a couple actually falling a couple steps back as they muttered fearfully about former Admiral Aokiji. Only Admiral Akainu and the other officer with him showed no fear at all of Elsa's abilities, as the latter gripped the end of his walking stick with his right hand while he held into it in the middle with his left and pulled slightly, revealing that it was actually a concealed sword. Immediately afterwards, Anna felt as though the gravity here had become much more intense, like her own body had become 2 or 3 times heavier. However, it appeared that Elsa was the main focus of this attack as she was being sunk down into a crater before Anna's eyes, her body being bowed despite the armor strengthening her posture, and the armor itself was fracturing and falling off in chunks.

"Hold it, Issho," Akainu told him, a sadistic smile on his face, "I want you to take the men and focus on capturing the Straw Hats instead. I can handle this young woman." The blind admiral at first made no move to comply, merely turning his head towards Akainu, causing the red-clad admiral to face his subordinate and ask firmly, "Is there a problem, Admiral?"

From how he squinted harder and the set of his jaw, it appeared that the blind admiral did indeed have a problem with following his superior's orders (or, perhaps, it was with the superior himself.) However, the man simply shook his head and answered, "No sir," before he relaxed his grip on his sword & allowed it to be concealed in its sheath again, the gravity returning to normal as he did so. As the blind admiral and the other soldiers tightened their formation around Luffy's crew and herself, leaving only Luffy and Anna facing Akainu, Anna felt an odd sense of relief. While that meant that Anna and her new friends would now have to deal with this guy's strange gravity powers as well as the swords, rifles, and who-knows-what used by his men, at least Elsa would not have to deal with those things as well in her condition as she and Luffy faced Akainu alone. Then she remembered that Akainu was the one who killed Luffy's brother Ace, someone who apparently had the ability to turn himself into living flame, and as Anna felt the heat rippling off Akainu as his arms began to glow red her concern for Elsa returned tenfold.

* * *

 _Great, this guy's just like Princess Azula!_ Elsa thought to herself as she shrugged off the remainder of her ruined ice armor. As she thought that, however, she had to correct herself that there were a number of differences between this guy here and that psycho princess. First and foremost is that the princess seemed to suffer from some form of inferiority complex. To be more specific, she seemed to need to treat others as inferior in order to feel better about herself. That much was obvious from the way Azula frequently referred to Elsa as a peasant even after she revealed she was actually a Queen. Compounding on that theorem was how Azula seemed to come more and more unglued when Elsa was able to match her move for move, as if Azula wasn't able to handle the fact that she wasn't superior to everyone else. This guy, on the other hand, struck Elsa as more of a fanatic than anything else. Exactly what Akainu was a fanatic _of_ Elsa wasn't exactly sure (perhaps it was of this twisted system of government) but Elsa got the sense that he was so completely devoted that he would overlook any flaws in the object of his devotion or that he would justify them as being necessary.

The second difference Elsa noticed was in the nature of their powers. Despite the differences in their attitudes (and overall mental health) Elsa found that she and Azula were similar in the nature of their powers, specifically that Azula was able to summon fire and lightning the way Elsa could conjure Ice and snow out of thin air, with no physical transformations apparent. This Akainu character, however, while he had yet to attack his merely accessing his powers seemed to make his arms glow and distort, as if they were changing into lava. Elsa might have discounted this as a mere illusion, like a heat mirage, had she not bore witness to the unusual powers exhibited by Luffy, Robin, and Chopper. Furthermore, the heat she seemed to feel coming off of the man's arms felt even greater than from the flames Azula had produced, so the notion that they were changing into lava didn't seem that farfetched to her.

"So, you're the one who froze the ocean and prevented our patrolling fleet from apprehending Straw Hat Luffy and his crew, Miss…?" Akainu asked in a curious tone

"It's Elsa, Queen of Arendelle," Elsa told him coldly, keeping her face impassive as she looked down her nose at him despite how he appeared larger than anyone she'd ever known, even larger than Stoick the Vast. However, even though this guy practically towered over her and she knew little of what he could do, she would not allow him to intimidate her into not doing everything in her power to keep Anna safe. She refused to allow him the satisfaction of seeing her afraid or angry as she continued, "and even if the indiscriminate fire from your ships hadn't posed a threat to my sister and myself, who were aboard at the time, I would have done so anyway. Since Luffy and his crew had likely saved our lives when they fished us out of the sea, it was the least I could do. And you must be Akainu, the Navy Admiral who had murdered Luffy's brother, Ace."

"It's actually Fleet Admiral, now, and it was hardly 'murder', Your Highness," Akainu corrected her, though his tone and the way he shrugged indicated that her words did not bother him (not to mention the way he said "Your Highness" made it sound as if he was mocking her), "Portagas D. Ace was a criminal with a 550,000,000 beri bounty on his head at the time of his arrest, and he had been sentenced to a public execution for his crimes. He would have been executed properly were it not for Monkey D. Luffy's interference that allowed him to briefly escape from custody. I would have ended Straw Hat Luffy too, for his attempting to break a convicted felon out of custody as well as his other varied crimes, if Whitebeard hadn't interfered. I don't wish to talk about Straw Hat right now, as that past failing will be corrected soon enough. At the moment I'm far more interested in you and how you got your powers."

"If you want I'll fight you right now!" Luffy snarled angrily, to which Akinu smiled in response. As he took a step towards him, however, Elsa extended an arm to block Luffy's path as she said softly under her breath, "No, Luffy. Go help your friends and my sister: leave this guy to me."

"No. Akinu killed my brother," Luffy argued, "He'll kill my friends too if I don't stop him here and now. I might have tried to run a couple of years ago but not now. I have to fight him sooner or later, so I might as well defeat him now. Otherwise how will I ever become King of the Pirates?"

"Luffy, please just listen to me," Elsa pleaded with him, keeping her voice down, "Anna isn't as strong as you or me, and even though she tries her best she's not as skilled as your friends. In a conflict like this she's bound to get hurt or even killed. I had to watch Anna die once when I was unable to protect her, please don't make me go through that again. I don't think I could survive that."

"But...if I..." Luffy protested again, but Elsa could hear his conviction wavering.

"Look, I know that it hurt you deeply that you weren't strong enough back then to save your brother from being killed," Elsa reasoned softly, "If you were able to go back to that moment the way you are now, with all the skill and strength you've gained since then, and stand against this guy to save Ace, would you?" When Luffy nodded yes, Elsa continued, "Then please don't deny me this. Let me stop this guy from having a chance of hurting Anna, and I must ask you to make sure none of his men hurt her either. Please protect my sister the way you would have your brother."

Luffy looked her directly in the eyes, and she could see a determined glint in his as he said, "Akinu's dangerous, you know."

"So am I," Elsa responded, "Please, Luffy, let me make up for failing against Azula."

Luffy appeared to consider for a moment before he nodded determinedly and said, "Okay, if that's what you want then you can go against Akinu first while I keep Anna safe."

"Thanks. Oh! And one thing, Luffy," Elsa said quickly before Luffy could turn back towards the others, who were already fighting, "If I should prove unable to stop Akinu, if I should fall, then I don't want you to waste time trying to avenge me, and don't let Anna do it either. Just take her away from this place for me."

"But..." Luffy started to protest, but Elsa cut her off as she said urgently, "Please, Luffy, I know that you're brave and strong, and that you are not afraid of dying fighting against him, but if both of us fall against him then who will protect Anna? I know that I'm asking a lot, but I want you to make sure that Anna stays safe. Of course Anna's pretty stubborn, I know that better than anyone, so if you need to tie her up and throw her below decks until you're safely away then you have my permission. Once Anna's someplace safe you can hunt Akinu down and fight him to your heart's content. Just take care of my sister first, please."

Luff nodded in affirmation before turning and leaping into the fray his crew and Anna were in the middle of. Elsa then turned back towards the admiral and, in an effort to try some time for her newly flared up headache to die down again, said in a calm voice, "So, you were asking about my powers a second ago. I take that you yourself don't believe like your subordinates that it is Admiral Aokiji's power?"

"Please, your Highness, give me some credit," Admiral Akinu said dismissively, "I had served with Kuzan for a good many years, not to mention that I battled with him for 10 days and nights when he opposed my being nominated for Fleet Admiral, though he showed no interest in the rank before. I guess you could say I know his Devil Fruit power nearly as well as I know my own, and while your power is similar to his I can tell that it's not the same. So now..."

"I was born with it," Elsa told him, trying to think of ways she could end this quickly. Her previous effort she put into creating her armor told her that she wasn't well enough for a protracted fight, especially against a dangerous enemy like this, and she wanted to get her sister home and away from these dangerous World Government people as soon as possible. Discretely creating a patch of ice on the back of her head to try and calm the throbbing, Elsa continued, "I don't know where it comes from or what its true nature is, nor have I ever encountered anyone else with a gift like mine."

She didn't bother to tell him about Katara or Aang, as she didn't want to explain about bending as it didn't seem to exist here. Besides, even if they weren't around anymore telling this monster about her friends felt too much like a betrayal, and she wasn't that desperate to buy time that she'd go there.

"I see," Akainu said thoughtfully, and the hungry glint in his eyes told Elsa that this was useful information to him, "And this Arrendale that you claim to be the queen of, I've never heard of it before, and I'm pretty well acquainted with all the nations of the World Government and even those few who persist on existing on the fringe outside of it. Where exactly is it?"

Hearing this admiral, who had caused so much pain already, express interest in the location of her home caused the hackles to return to her back, drawing her focus away from maintaining the ice she'd created on the base of her skull. Her anger was too great to notice her slowly returning headache as she growled, "Why? So you can erase it from the map with your Buster Call like you had with Ohara?"

Akainu seemed rather surprised by Elsa's outburst at first, then he burst out laughing as he said, "For someone who claims to hail from a land I never heard of you seem to be rather knowledgeable in the propaganda of pirates and rebels. For your information the island of Ohara was populated by criminals who dared to harbor some dangerous scientists trying to decipher the polyglyphs and revive the Ancient Weapons that can destroy the world. They earned the punishment that befell them."

"Sounds like you are the one spouting propaganda, lies generated by your superiors to cover up their insidious agenda," Elsa counted in a low voice, "I know that the only thing the scientists were trying to discover from the Polyglyphs was what happened during a lost era of your history. Because they learned something your leaders wanted to keep hidden, however, they had them silenced for good. I learned the truth from someone who was there, someone who managed to escape your so-called 'Justice'."

"You're referring to Nico Robin, I assume," Akainu retorted with a cock of his head, "A criminal, one who was a child at the time she evaded justice, who was just as guilty as the scientists we dealt with of the crime of trying to read the forbidden polyglyphs. What's more is that she has proven unrepentant of her crime: even though she was being hunted for it, Nico Robin continued to seek out the polyglyphs despite the danger that placed the world in. She, and her friends who dared to defy the World Government by freeing her from custody, will all be brought to justice for their crimes, trust me. Besides, I'm not repeating mere propaganda. I was one of the Vice Admirals who was part of that Buster Call that punished Ohara for their crimes as was Akoiji, though he hadn't the stomach to ensure Total Justice. He seemed to consider me a fool for destroying a ship full of civilians and soldiers to ensure that Ohara's scientists didn't sneak aboard it and escape, but I knew my duty and was proud to carry it out."

Elsa heard a gasp and she turned to see that Robin was looking rather shocked where she was back with her friends. She felt a moment of worry that Robin had gotten hurt already, but Elsa couldn't see any wounds from here and, despite that Robin was currently standing as motionless as a statue, none of her opponents could get anywhere close to her before a multitude of arms grew from their bodies and twisted them painfully until they passed out. Elsa then happened to glance down where she spotted what appeared to be a right ear growing out of the sand near her left foot moments before it vanished in a flurry of tiny petals. Elsa guessed that Robin must have been listening in, keeping an eye (or rather ear) on her in order to let Luffy know if she got into trouble so that he could intervene before it was too late, but Elsa still didn't understand her reaction. Had Robin not known of Admiral Akainu's involvement in the destruction of her home, or just how involved in it he was back then?

A particularly painful throb of her head brought Elsa's musings to an end, and she sighed as she realized that her efforts to stall until she was feeling a little better wasn't working. Not only were her thoughts all over the place, but also her efforts to bring down her headache with ice was being countered by the strain of her efforts to maintain it, and every moment that she held off on engaging was one that an attack could reach Anna through the circle of protection around her. Of course if her head wasn't frying like an egg she might have realized it sooner, but now she had to focus on trying to end this quickly one way or another. "Enough," Elsa said in a low voice, determined to not let any of her discomfort show in it, "There's a difference between upholding justice and enforcing the law, and they're not mutually inclusive. However, you don't strike me as the type of person who will willingly accept that, and I currently don't have the time or patience to convince you otherwise. I was on an urgent diplomatic mission to deliver some humanitarian aid to some of our allies when our ship got caught in a storm, and since I don't think you are going to let us return home so I can get back to it..."

Akainu still had on that infuriating grin as he said, "The Gorosei will want to speak with you on the true nature of your powers, as well as to determine your nation's allegiance and your relation to Straw Hat here."

Elsa half expected this answer, and she formed her clawed ice-gauntlets and dropped into her fighting stance as she continued, "...then I'll just have to make you let us leave."

Akainu's smile got impossibly larger, and he barked out a short laugh as he said, "Spoken like a true member of the Revolutionary Army! Still, for someone who wields the power of ice you certainly have some fire running in your veins. Very well then," then Akainu dropped into a ready stance himself, his hands changing into lava as he said, "this should be fun."

Before Elsa could make a move, Akainu thrust his hand in her direction, causing Elsa to instinctively create an ice wall between them as she ducked her head down. This proved to be a fortunate move, however, as the next moment Elsa felt intense heat on the back of her neck when a stream of lava blasted through her shield where her head was earlier. For a second all she could do was stare in shock at the hole in her shield wall. Elsa was able to fend off Azula's attacks with a wall half this thick, but this guy blasted right though it like it wasn't even there. She didn't remain standing there long, however, as she rolled to the side just before a larger lava blast obliterated the reminder of her shield.

 _Okay, so this guy is much more dangerous than Azula,_ Elsa thought to herself. She had thought that perhaps her gauntlets might provide adequate protection for some physical attacks while allowing for the additional mobility her full armor would have robbed her of, but if her ice wall (which was many times thicker) couldn't stand up against this guy's lava attacks, and if he could physically change his limbs into the stuff, then her gauntlets won't much of anything except open herself into getting herself hurt. Switching gears, Elsa strafed around Akainu, keeping her distance while she fired off a series of ice blasts at him, hoping that she might be able to catch him with one and immobilize him long enough for her and Anna (or just Anna at the least) to get to the Nexus Cave and away from here. Akainu dodged most of the blasts, which with their speed and trajectories testified to his prowess as a warrior, before one caught him and froze his arm up to his elbow. Elsa began to feel hopeful, that she might be able to beat this guy even in her current state and take Anna home. Then her hopes were dashed when Akainu smirked and his arm changed to lava, turning the ice covering it into a cloud of steam in less than a couple of seconds. Elsa then tried to blind him with a blizzard, enveloping him in a funnel cloud of snow that encircled him alone. However, her jaw dropped in dismay when Akainu simply strolled though the side of the snow funnel, his body changed completely into lava including his clothes, his insufferable smile still pasted on his face.

Akainu then tossed in her direction what she best could describe as lava balls. Figuring that these were likely just as dangerous as his streams of lava Elsa kept herself mobile, bobbing and weaving and firing her ice blasts at each lava ball that came anywhere near her. A good number of them fell to the ground, changed into porous black rock, but a few of them had enough momentum to continue through the air in her direction and she could feel that they all were still incredibly hot as they missed her by inches. Each exertion of her power caused her headache to get worse and worse, and even her dizziness and nausea chose this unfortunate time to return, but since it would be even worse for her if she was hit by the lava, and she had no intention of surrendering herself and Anna to this admiral's nonexistent mercy, Elsa simply pushed through the pain and continued to try and find a way to slow or distract this guy so that she and Anna could get away.

As the fight wore on, Elsa found herself getting more exhausted, her nausea and the pounding of her head growing more and more with each blast she fired and every shield she summoned. So far she'd managed to avoid serious injury despite how the admiral's lava blasts ripping through her ice walls like they were made of paper, but with how rubbery her legs were beginning to feel as her energy level bottomed out it was only a matter of time before she slipped up and he got her good. She supposed that she could have summoned her ice glider and attack him from the air, but even if she had the strength to do so and maintain the winds to keep her aloft, she doubted that she manipulate the currents enough to dodge his blasts, and with no ice walls to block his view Elsa had no doubt that Akainu would have any trouble shooting her down.

Just as Elsa was beginning to see no way out of this one, Elsa got an idea that had her grinning. Reaching deep into her remaining reservoirs of strength, she aimed and at Akainu and fired a blast….that wound up missing him, striking the ground a few yards behind him instead.

"You must be getting tired, Your Highness," Akainu said to her mockingly, "That one didn't even come close to hitting me."

Elsa shrugged as she said noncommittally, "If you say so."

One of the soldiers, who had a clear view of what was happening, managed to say, "Sir! Look out behind…!" before he was silenced by one of Sanji's kicks to his face.

Clearly confused about what his man was warning him about, Akainu turned towards where the soldier was pointing….just in time to be stuck by a vicious backhand from Marshmallow and get sent flying, just falling short of landing in the rolling surf.

"Very clever, Your Highness," Akainu said with a wry smile as he pushed himself up and rubbed his jaw, his voice just barely audible over Marshmallow's roar which had more than a few battle-hardened Navy soldiers nervously backing a few steps away, "but unfortunately not clever enough."

As Marshmallow roared and charged at him, Akainu released a double fisted magma blast that struck him in the midsection. As the lodged lumps of lava began to melt him, causing him to collapse in on himself, Marshmallow's roars changed in tone, reminding Elsa more of the cries of a mortally wounded animal, a sound which cut her to the bone and shredded her heart. While she had summoned Marshmallow to fight for her before, and even though it had occurred to her that he may be harmed or even destroyed in said battled, his end had never affected her the way it is now. Even when she had seen a number of them brought down when she was fending off the Duke's invasion together with Julian, it had never struck her as being real or having any weight emotionally, not like it does now with her looking into the sunken sockets that served as Marshmallow's eyes.

When Marshmallow had been reduced to a nondescript pile of slush, Elsa's gaze shifted over to Akainu's face, which was also looking over Marshmallow's remains. Seeing the self-satisfied smirk of triumph on his face lit a fire in Elsa's heart, her rage giving her access to a whole other reservoir of strength even as it clouded over her common sense. Conjuring up her full body ice armor, Elsa let out a scream of fury (which, on later reflection, sounded virtually identical to Demona's) as she charged at the admiral.

Akainu, unfortunately, wasn't that easy to catch off guard, and it took him no effort to twist around to fire a blast back at her. While her momentum prevented her from stopping, Elsa was barely able to twist her body to avoid being struck directly, the lava blast only melting clean away the ice covering her face. However, while she avoided it coming into contact with her face by a hair's breadth, the heat she felt from the stream of lava made it feel as though a branding iron had been applied to her cheek, and Elsa could not help uttering a cry of pain as she collapsed in a skidding heap on the sand.

"Elsa!" Elsa heard Anna cry out, and she looked up to see that Anna and the others had stopped and looked at her in stunned silence. Unfortunately it looked as though some Navy soldiers were looking into taking advantage of the opening this created, and Elsa's heart leapt into her throat as a couple of them charged at Anna, their cutlasses held high. Luckily Anna managed to see this attack in time and raised her frying pan to block it just before a number of additional arms grew from each man's body (which, Elsa could tell from the shape and suppleness, belonged to Nico Robin) which proceeded to grip the man they grew from and twist them around painfully until they passed out, and Luffy took down a few that came up on Anna from behind with an extra-long rubbery kick.

"You bastard!" Sanji yelled at Akainu. However, as he was still fighting through his own ever tightening knot of soldiers, Sanji was able to neither come to her aid nor to attack Akainu directly (for which Elsa was grateful, as she didn't think Sanji had any ability to shield himself from Akainu's power). Luffy also looked fighting mad, his arm looking as if it was changing from flesh to some sort of black steel as he raised it before his face as if he was looking to bite into it. Elsa, however, made the barest shakes of her head to tell him no, reminding him of the promise she made him swear to earlier.

As Akainu came to stand over her, Elsa saw that he looked rather let down as he shook his head and made a "tsk"ing sound in his throat before he finally said, "I must say, Your Highness, that you've disappointed me. You had shown such promise with the techniques you've used today, techniques that likely would have served Aokiji well in our duel 2 years ago. However, it turns out after all that you're nowhere near Aokiji's league, and since I'm the one who defeated him in that duel that means you were never a match for me."

Her energy exhausted once more, Elsa was barely able to move as her headache and nausea returned again full force. However, she was determined to show no weakness before him as she looked up at him with what was meant to be a smile (but turned out to be closer to a sneer) and said, "Well, murderer, if I hadn't been so sick here today, then I could have shown you just what I'm truly capable of."

Akainu simply shook his head and shrugged his shoulders as he said, "It's a shame that we'll never find out the answer to that, now will we? As a believer in Absolute Justice I cannot simply go around giving pirates nor their allies and accomplices second chances in combat. Rest assured that Dr. Vegapunk and the scientists under him will discover from your corpse just how your abilities work, as well as how to reproduce them, and we'll get out of Straw Hat and the others just where this Arendelle of yours lies." Akainu then drew back his arm, the fist glowing as it changed once more into lava, as he said, "Now prepare yourself."

Staring into Akainu's remorseless face as she waited for his final blow, Elsa felt no fear of what was to come next. Her only regret was that her people and especially her parents would end up believing that she (and possibly Anna, should she not return) had perished at sea the way her parents would have if not for the timely intervention of Julian. Still, she hoped that Luffy and the others would not waste their time and risk their lives to try saving or even avenging her, that they would find a way to escape and that they'd take Anna with them. Of course she figured that Anna would not go willingly, not as long as there was a chance that Elsa was alive and could be saved, but she figured that Luffy and his crew would have no trouble dragging her onboard the Thousand Sunny kicking and screaming. Elsa stifled a laugh at the irony that she was now thinking of abduction by pirates now as a _good_ thing.

Wanting to look at her sister one last time, Elsa shifted her gaze away from Akainu, but an unexpected movement caused her to focus on the Sunny instead. There in the water, was what appeared to be a line of foam making its way from the Sunny & heading directly for them. At first Elsa thought an attack had been launched from the ship, but she quickly dismissed that as a possibility as the trail was too wide to be caused by disturbance from an underwater projectile, especially in such shallow waters, and besides there was nobody on board to launch such an attack. When it was closer, Elsa saw that what she'd believed to be foam was not foam at all: it was the Mini-Marshmallows from the ship, more than she could possibly count, and they were paddling towards them as quickly as their little legs could carry them. Elsa wasn't sure how they'd managed to escape from where they had been locked up, or why they were determinedly making their way towards her, but they all looked rather angry.

"What's that?" Akainu asked in confusion, and Elsa figured he must have heard the sounds of splashing behind him. Before he could turn to see what it was, the Mini-Marshmallows were swarming all over him, gripping tightly to every square inch of him no matter how much he thrashed to try and throw them off.

"What the hell are these things!?" Akainu screamed as he thrashed about, "Get off, you freaks! Get off of me!" When he was unable to dislodge his miniature assailants, Akainu let out a roar of fury and frustration as he changed his entire body to molten lava. Immediately Elsa saw an effect as the Mini-Marshmallows began to melt, though not as quickly as she'd expected. Elsa figured that the cooling effect of the snow clouds she'd conjured for them earlier must be slowing their melting down, though not enough to save them. Whenever any of them melted away, however, they were quickly replaced by some of their brethren on the ground around him.

What's more is while his heat was melting them, their cold was having an adverse effect on him as well. There were areas Elsa could see on Akainu's body where he wasn't glowing as brightly, and was even turning into porous rock, and Akainu began to groan in pain as the assault went on. Elsa couldn't enjoy the rictus of agony on Akainu's face, however, or even focus on the fact how this conflict was turning in her favor and that she might survive this. All she could see was that more of her friends were giving up their lives. For her.

"No! What are you doing!?" Elsa cried out to them, "Stop!"

Elsa thought she'd seen some of them look her way, but rather than heeding her request they merely smiled at her before melting into oblivion like their brothers. Then they were all gone, leaving only the statue-like form of Akainu standing where he was. Elsa figured that this was as good of a time to get away as any, but she had trouble getting enough strength to get back to her feet much less get Anna and make a break for it. Even worse Akainu was starting to regain his glow, and Elsa figured that it wouldn't be much longer before he was free to move once again and finish her off.

Then, before she could even blink, Luffy was standing directly between her and Akainu, his entire body steaming and looking like he'd spent too long in a hot spring, both his arms stretched far behind him, his hands and forearms looking once again like they're changed to dark metal as he cried out, "Gum Gum Hawk Bazooka!" Then Luffy's arms snapped forward again, and Elsa could swear that his metal-clad forearms were wreathed in flames as they slammed into Akainu's chest, sending him flying swiftly across the water. The only indication that Elsa had that the admiral had not landed in the ocean was when she heard a loud cracking sound accompanied by one of the navy ships in the distance rocking violently and smoking slightly, its broken main mast toppling to the side and into the ocean.

Elsa was left stunned by Luffy's casual display of power, so she could find nothing to say as he seemed to look just past her and nod in determination before dashing back the way he came. Then she felt someone starting to lift her back to her feet, and when she looked over and was surprised to see that it was Nico Robin. This was rather shocking to her as she could have sworn that Robin had been over with the others fighting the soldiers and protecting Anna, and a glance over that way confirmed that Robin WAS still there (though Anna was now headed her way while Luffy and his crew kept the Navy from pursuing.) Then Elsa happened to look down and she saw that this Robin's feet seemed to be merging into the sand (like the ear that she noticed eavesdropping on her and Akainu earlier.) _Could Robin have the ability to copy her entire self, not just parts of her body?_ Elsa thought to herself in wonder.

"Now's your chance!" Robin, or rather Robin's double, said to her in urgent concern, "You and Anna hurry over to that cave and get out of here!"

As Anna ducked under Elsa's arm to support her weight, Elsa asked them in just as much concern, "But what about you guys?"

"Don't worry about us, this is nothing!" Usopp told her, though the brave front he put on was spoiled by the tremor she heard in his voice and the shaking of his legs, "We faced nearly 30 times this many soldiers, not to mention the dangerous members of CP9, when we rescued Robin from Enies Lobby over two years ago. We can make it through this too."

"But I can't just abandon you guys like this!" Elsa protested, though she looked less impressive than she sounded as she couldn't even stand on her own without Anna's support.

"Your Highness, the day I let a beautiful young woman give up her life to save mine is the day I stop calling myself a gentleman," Sanji told her coolly, "Besides, Usopp's correct that this isn't anything we can't handle. You've already done more than enough to help us, now you just focus on taking care of your sister."

"You should super listen to him, miss," Franky said as he launched his metal fist into a group of soldiers charging him, knocking them down like ten-pins, "Your little friends risked everything in order to save you. Don't let their sacrifice be in vain."

"But…" Elsa tried again, but the glares of Luffy and Zorro, the latter of which was still locking swords with the blind samurai-like admiral, caused the rest of her protest to die in her throat. She realized that they were right. She was in no condition to be able to help them, and her continued presence there was only going to put them in further danger. After all, they were staying to fight only so that she and Anna would have an opportunity to get away, and the longer they fought the greater the chance that something would go wrong and one of them would get hurt or worse. Looking over at the ship Akainu had struck she couldn't see anything different, but she realized it wouldn't be long before he recovered enough to get back here to finish her off.

Looking back at Robin's double, which was starting to break back up into flower petals, she was greeted by a kind smile as she said, "Don't worry, we'll be fine. Go."

Elsa knew that time was of the essence now, so she simply nodded in acceptance. However, she still felt bad about simply running away, so she reached deep into what remained of her strength and created a powerful blizzard that dramatically reduced visibility, hoping that the Straw Hats would be able to use it to cover their own escape. She even made it extend across the ocean towards the Navy ships, hoping that it would blind them as well and recovery that much slower. Leaning more heavily against Anna, Elsa then called out to the others, "Thank you, everyone! We'll never forget you!" Then she finally let Anna lead her into the trees in the direction Robin had indicated.

* * *

Elsa wasn't sure how long they had been walking through this jungle-like forest. It might have been as short as a few minutes or as long as a couple of hours, she wasn't sure. Her fever was making everything, such as her sense of time, as blurry as her vision was becoming. She could no longer even be sure that they were still heading the correct direction, but Anna assured her that they were so Elsa trusted her. There were a few times when Elsa's legs gave out from under her and she nearly brought Anna down with her, but Anna merely braced herself and waited until Elsa could get her legs under her again before she continued on.

With the way Elsa was slowing them down she was sure that Akainu's men would have caught up to them by now, but so far there was no signs of pursuit. Thinking about it then, she realized that a shipload of pirates with enormous bounties on their heads would be of a much greater priority than a pair of no bounty nobodies like Anna and herself. Besides, if anyone tried to chase them now they would have a hard time finding them in this blizzard, and any tracks they left behind would surely be swept away by the wind and snow.

"W-w-w-we're almost th-th-there," Anna stammered, and Elsa could feel through the arm that was draped over Anna's shoulders that she was shivering. Elsa felt bad that, in her efforts to provide the Straw Hats and themselves cover for escape, that she had neglected to account for how the cold of the storm itself would affect Anna, that she had forgotten how Anna had just barely recovered from being stuck inside of their spherical ice life raft for so long. Before she could come up with an apology, however, Elsa saw Anna's eyes brighten as she pointed ahead of them and exclaimed, "There! That must be it, the Nexus Cave!"

Looking to where Anna was gesturing, Elsa saw in the clearing ahead of them what, for the most part, appeared to be just an ordinary cave. However, the faint and unusual glow that she saw from inside looked rather warm and inviting, indicating that it was far from ordinary. "Home," Elsa said softly, a hopeful smile appearing on her face.

Just as they stepped into the clearing, however, Elsa heard a loud and unusual sound back from the direction they'd come from, from the beach where they'd been fighting just moments ago. Elsa couldn't place a finger on just what this sound was supposed to be, but the closest equivalent she could think of was a mixture of the sound of a cannon firing and the whistling of the cannonball through the air. Had the Navy decided to, rather than trying to track them down through the blizzard-besieged jungle, to instead lay waste to the area with their ship's cannons? Looking up she did see a large object being propelled at high speeds towards the cave. However, the object in question was too large to be a cannonball, and the force propelling it looked more like a trio of crossed air-slashes. When the object struck the side of the cave and slid down to the ground, Elsa was able to focus her vision enough to see that it was a man, and not just any man: it was the blind samurai-like admiral who Zorro had been fighting just moments ago, whose strange gravity-based powers had nearly crushed her at the start of this conflict. Had he managed to defeat Zorro then somehow raced up here to cut off their escape? Elsa counted that as unlikely as this admiral had slid down his back against the cave's side, meaning he'd flown backwards through the air (& who would make themselves fly backwards deliberately?) That, plus the fact that the spittle flying from his mouth from his coughing was lightly flecked with tiny drops of blood, told Elsa he hadn't come here under his own power. Then how…?

"Damn that Zorro!" Elsa heard the admiral say an a low but firm voice that was horse from his recent coughing, "I had completely underestimated how dangerous his techniques had become. I barely managed to block most of his 1080 Phoenix Cannon, but I had no concentration remaining to ground myself with my power and so got blown away by it. Since Akainu is still in no condition to do anything to stop them, and the rest of our men aren't nearly strong enough to do so, it's now likely that the Straw Hats will get away today." The admiral then stood and dusted himself off and looked (or rather turned, since he was blind) directly towards Anna and herself as he said, "Hello again, Your Highnesses. Sorry you had to see me in this state."

Elsa was stunned into silence, but mentally she raged, _Zorro, you idiot! Of all the places you could have blown this guy to, you blast him over_ _ **here**_ _!?_ Elsa had heard of the swordsman's legendary bad sense of direction, how he could manage to get lost within a 2 block radius, which is why Sanji and the others refused to let Zorro leave the ship during their last stop. However, Elsa hadn't figured that his broken compass would apply to his _aiming!_ Of course Elsa guessed that her blizzard didn't exactly help him with his aim, but that didn't exactly do much to comfort her when their only route of escape was cut off. What's worse is that Luffy and his crew would not know the danger Anna and Elsa were in until it's too late.

Anna must have figured that since the admiral was blind that they could sneak around him if they were quiet, and before Elsa could warn her Anna began to take a slow, cautionary step to the side. The admiral must have sensed this, and in a movement that was almost too fast for Elsa to see he used his sword to care out a small trench in the ground 30 yards out from his current position, exactly where Anna was about to step. "I would not me trying that again, young miss," the admiral calmly warned her, "You seem to be basically good people, like the Straw Hats, and your hearts seem to be free of the corruption that plagues this world, so I'd much rather take you in alive. However, the one who calls herself Queen Elsa has proven to be rather too dangerous to be taken lightly, so if you resist I'm afraid that I'll be forced to resort to more extreme measures."

"If you know that, then why would you do this?" Elsa asked him Imploringly, "Why would you try to capture Luffy and his crew, much less Anna and myself? We've practically done nothing since we got here!"

The admiral shrugged as he said, "It's my duty."

Elsa, trying again, asked, "I don't understand. Why would you place yourself in the service of those who clearly have no honor? How can you stand to be the cause of so much suffering?"

The admiral, giving her a wry smile, said in response, "Your Highness, why do think I'm blind?"

Anna, clearly shocked, asked him, "You mean that your bosses blinded you because you wouldn't follow one of their orders?"

The admiral shook his head as he answered, "No matter how much I disagreed with an order, no matter how much it disgusted me, I've never directly disobeyed a single one."

Elsa felt shock as she understood the truth of what he was saying: he'd blinded _himself!_ This admiral could not stand the sight of the corruption and evil around him, so he made sure that he would never see it ever again. Elsa could not decide whether this action indicated a noble heart or a cowardly one, but she figured that she understood this world too little to be able to pass judgement.

The admiral, still facing them as his smile disappeared, said, "Still, I would not be taking me lightly if I were you. I may be blind, but my hearing is quite good. What's more is that my devil fruit gives me a sense of where things are by the effect gravity has on them. Even the clouds up in the sky and the meteors out in space are not beyond my range of senses."

 _In other words, there's no chance that we can sneak past him,_ Elsa thought. However, rather than moving to capture them, Elsa was surprised to see him smiling again, and she could have sworn she seen him wink (though his eyes remained closed) as he continued, "Despite all this, however, there are things even I cannot 'see'. I can see the clouds travel through the sky, but not the winds that drive them. Also, while I can see the snow that now falls all around us I could not see the formless blast that created it."

Elsa looked at the admiral in confusion for a moment, wondering why he was telling her these things, and then it clicked. _Wait, he's not telling me what I think he is, is he?_ When nobody did anything, a look of irritation momentarily crossed the admiral's face as he notched his sword out of his walking stick-like sheath. Reflexively, Elsa fired an ice blast at him, encasing him in an ice block up to his neck. Elsa had expected him to be angry or even to break out right away and use his power to crush her flat. Instead, he surprised her by grinning widely as he said with what she decided was the worst acting possible, "Oh dear, it appears you caught me off guard and completely immobilized me. I wouldn't get too comfortable, as I will be able to free myself with my abilities soon enough. Also, the Gorosei have determined that the Nexus Cave is too dangerous to be left intact. As such, I've already summoned down a meteor in order to obliterate it. I estimate that it will impact an about one minute, after which I will hunt you down to take you into custody, no matter in this world you try to take refuge."

"Why would you do that?" Anna protested, but Elsa just squeezed her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile as she understood what was going on now. This admiral didn't have to clue Elsa in on what to do to him, nor was it necessary for him to warn her of his intention to destroy the cave. He informed her of the limitations of his senses because he'd wanted to give her the opportunity to get past him, and the reason for informing her of the meteor was a subtle way of telling her to use the cave before it's gone forever. Furthermore, once the cave was no more there would be no way for Akainu or his comrades to follow them. This admiral may not be directly opposing the questionable decisions of his superiors, but it seemed that he was resisting them in his own subtle way, and this gave Elsa some hope for the future of this world. Standing as best as she could on her own, she gave him a small bow and smile as she told him, "I wish you the best, and pray that you can find a way to restore true justice and honor to the World Government and its Navy."

The admiral, whose ice prison was falling away in chunks as he was being pushed down into his own crater, gave her a small knowing smile before announcing, "Thirty seconds."

"Come on, Elsa! Let's go!" Anna yelled as she grabbed Elsa's hand and dragged her towards the cave entrance, and just before they got in Elsa caught sight of the meteor in question as it made its fiery entrance into the atmosphere. Once inside, Elsa saw the glow she'd seen earlier was from a pillar of light in the cave's center, which she assumed must be the portal in question. Elsa tried to remember how they were supposed to use it to get home, then when she recalled what Robin had said her breath froze in her chest. In order to get where they want to go they needed to concentrate on their destination, but it had been hard enough for her fever-addled mind to recall this little bit of info. If she was unable to keep her scattered thoughts on home when they passed through then there was a chance that she might not make it there, and if she was still holding onto Anna when that happened she might prevent her from getting there as well. Elsa tried to let go of Anna's hand so that she might pass through separately, that way at least Anna might be able to see their parents and Kristoff once more. However, Anna must have thought that her illness was making her lose her grip, so she clutched Elsa's hand even tighter and dragged Elsa into the portal behind her.

* * *

Once her vision cleared, Elsa found herself on her back on an earthen floor. She could tell that the portal had worked as the texture of this ground felt different than that of the cave or even anywhere else on the island that they had been on. However, she could tell from the smell of the air that they had not made it back home, just as she'd figured what would happen. Still the air here smelt here nice and crisp, unlike the salty air of the island they'd left, with the faint hint of the smell of hay. From that odor, as well as the wooden makeup of the roof, Elsa had deduced that they were in a barn. Curiously enough it looked as though a huge hole had been blasted in the roof, but how and why she didn't know. Anyway, the air and ground felt nice and cool against her fevered skin, and there seemed to be no immediate signs of danger, so she had no desire to move about right now.

"Wow, that was some trip!" Elsa heard Anna exclaim, "Are you okay, Elsa?" Elsa nodded yes but remained lying where she was. After a moment of silence, she heard Anna say, "This doesn't look like any place I recognize. We didn't make it back home, did we?"

Elsa sighed and turned her head to look at Anna, who was sitting cross-legged and looking back at her with a concerned expression, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, it's all my fault."

"What do you mean?" Anna asked her in confusion, "How is this your fault?"

"It's this fever. It kept me from being able to concentrate on getting home, and because we were holding hands I kept you from getting there as well."

"So? It's not your fault that you happen to be sick now," Anna assured her, "so don't worry about it."

"Yeah, well I tried to let go of your hand before we entered the portal," Elsa continued her explanation, "that way at least you…"

"What?" Anna asked, interrupting her as anger flashed in her eyes, "You tried to let go of my hand _on purpose!?_ "

"Of course," Elsa told her, "If I had managed to, then at least you could have made it back home to our family and…"

"Not! Without! You!" Anna enunciated sternly, and Elsa felt as though the words were punching straight through her chest, "I'm not about to head back home by myself & wonder for the rest of my life what happened to you. I thought we'd settled this when you considered doing this back on Berk! I would rather spend the rest of my life bouncing around from place to unfamiliar place together with you than to return to an Arendelle that doesn't have you in it, got it!"

"But what about Kristoff? Our parents?" Elsa reasoned with her.

"I _will_ see Kristoff again," Anna countered in a sure voice, " _We_ will see _our parents_ again, and we will do so by working _together_ to find a way to get back home. There isn't anything that we can't overcome when we put our heads together, understand Elsa?"

"But we don't even know where we are now or if this place is even safe for us," Elsa told her, "We have no idea if there's anyone or anything here that has the power to send us home."

Anna looked thoughtful as she gazed around the barn, then her eyes locked on a spot on the ground as she said, "What about this? This looks a lot like the portal we passed through back on that island, only this one's currently inactive. Perhaps when you're feeling better again you might be able to use your power to reenergize it & we can get back home using it?"

Leveraging herself up to get a better look at what Anna was talking about, Elsa saw that in the center of the barn, directly beneath the hole in the roof, was a design carved into the ground that could indeed be a portal of sorts. However, there was something about this design unnerved Elsa, though she couldn't place her finger on why. When her nausea caused her vision to blur, that's when she'd seen why it bothered her: this portal's design looked rather similar to that what she'd seen on the flags and sails of the naval fleet that had had caused them so much trouble recently, the design that represented the World Government! The main difference between the World Government's flag and this design was that here the cross with rounded tips was itself overlaid with concentric circles.

"Yeah, maybe," Elsa conceded with a shudder, then as her weariness overtook her, she lowered herself back down to the ground and gazed through the hole in the roof at the starry sky as she said, "We'll talk about it more in the morning."

"Ohhhh no you don't!" Anna argued, walking into her view and gabbing her hand to pull her up as she said, "Come on, back on your feet." When Elsa stared at her in confusion, her mouth hanging open, Anna clarified, "It's far too cold and drafty here, Elsa. You won't get any better if you fall asleep here, so we ought to find who owns this barn and see if they'll let you sleep this off. Besides, I'd like to get someone to look at this burn of yours for me."

Elsa groaned and rolled her eyes as she said, "Yes, mother," which earned her a playful elbow from Anna and Elsa giggled in response as she allowed Anna to lead her out of the barn.

After they'd walked through the woods for a while, with no other signs of habitation visible, they came across a cleared area through which a road of sorts stretched in both directions as far as she could see. If Elsa hadn't been sure that they hadn't made it back home before, then this would have confirmed it: the road here was paved with a similar material as the roads back in New York City, but since there was no buildings that she could see Elsa doubted that they'd made it back there (maybe this was Puck's idea of a practical joke). On one side of the road was what appeared to be a wooden sign, but it was so dark and her vision was so blurry by this point that she was unable to read it.

"Is that right?" Anna asked in confusion, "My English may be a little rusty, but surely that can't be the name of a town, can it?"

Before Elsa could ask Anna for clarification on what she was talking about, Elsa heard the rumbling sound that she'd recognized as that of what she understood to be that of the engine of an automobile, accompanied by the gradual lightening of the road around them. As she turned in the direction they were coming from, however, her ears were assaulted by the shrill blast of a siren that immediately had her head pounding furiously. The flashing red and blue lights on top of the vehicle didn't exactly help her feel any better, either.

Thankfully the siren didn't last for more than a few seconds (though the flashing lights continued, and when her head's throbbing died down she remembered that the "police" that Elisa Maza was a part of had similar lights and sirens on their vehicles. Then the door on the driver's side opened, and as Elsa saw the sleeve of a red leather jacket she asked in confusion, "Eliza?" However, as the person finished exiting the vehicle, Elsa saw that this woman was clearly not her friend from New York. She was about the same height & the coat appeared identical to Eliza's, but that's where the similarities ended: her skin was too fair, her hair a striking shade of blond. Even though Elsa's eyesight was too messed up right now to make out any facial features, she was certain that she did not know this woman.

However, Elsa's confusion only grew more pronounced as the strange young woman called out, "Elsa, Anna, you're back!" Then a beat of silence was punctuated by a sharp gasp from the young woman before she asked in concern, "Oh my God! Elsa, you're hurt! Anna, what happened to her?"

As a young man exited from the other side of the vehicle (which Elsa noted looked rather similar to Eliza's partner Matt Bluestone, but again his hair color was wrong), Anna told the young woman urgently, "My sister is very sick. Please, is there someplace nearby where she can rest and recover?"

"Of course," the young man assured Anna, "I'd like to take her to the hospital, but with Hyde pretty much running the town at the moment the less people who know she's here the better. We can give you a ride back to my place instead, and Mary Margaret can look after her while we get ahold of either Dr. Whale or Dr. Jekyll. But Anna, Elsa looks as though she's been burned! What happened to you guys? We haven't seen or heard from you since you went back to Arendelle about a year ago."

Elsa felt Anna's shoulders stiffen in trepidation as she asked, "You know us, know about Arendelle? Who are you people? What is this place?"

Elsa saw the young woman and the young man look at each other in confusion for a moment before the young woman asked, "Anna, you don't remember me, don't remember David?"

Anna shook her head no, and the young woman asked her partner, "Do you think someone used a spell to alter their memories again, Dad?" to which he responded, "But who would do that, Em, and why? Elsa's aunt is long gone, and from what I heard Elsa and Anna had sent Hans and his brothers running for the hills after they got back."

Elsa shook her head in confusion. Nothing these people was saying was making any sense, and her overcooked head was bad enough without adding more questions to the pile of currently unanswered ones. "Please, just tell us," Elsa implored them, "Who are you, and where are we?"

The young woman looked directly at Elsa, appearing as confused as Elsa felt, but she answered, "Elsa, it's me: Emma. Your friend, Emma Swan, and this is my father, David. You're back in Storybrooke." Then, her strength exhausted, Elsa heard no more as she fell into unconsciousness.

 _To Be Continued in **Familiar Strangers**..._


End file.
